http://www.policeinfocus.co.uk/2012/05/23/metropolitan-police-anti-corruption-un...

Metropolitan police anti-corruption unit investigated over payments
Metropolitan police anti-corruption unit investigated over payments




Detectives from Scotland Yard’s anti-corruption unit have allegedly received payments from a firm of private investigators

Scotland Yard is investigating allegations that detectives working for its anti-corruption unit have been paid thousands of pounds by a firm of private investigators.

A parliamentary inquiry was told today that invoices, also seen by the Guardian, purport to show how a firm of private investigators made payments in return for information about the Metropolitan police investigation into James Ibori, a notorious Nigerian fraudster.

On Tuesday, the Commons home affairs select committee was told by a lawyer involved in the case that invoices showed about £20,000 of potential payments to police officers in what amounted to an undetected case of “apparent corruption right at the heart of Scotland Yard”.

In recent weeks, as the Guardian investigated the allegations, the Met has sought to discourage the paper from publishing details about the case. But , after MPs heard the evidence, the Met dropped its previous insistence that there was “evidence that casts doubt on the credibility” of the allegations.

A police source with knowledge of the investigation, which has been ongoing since October, said developments over the last 24 hours had now led police to take the allegations more seriously.

The case revolves around a private investigation firm called RISC Management. Five years ago the firm was hired to work for Ibori, a former Nigerian state governor, after he discovered he was being investigated by the Met for serious fraud. Ibori recently pleaded guilty to money laundering and was jailed in the UK, after the conclusion of a major investigation into his financial affairs.

The allegation now being investigated by police is that some detectives on the Met’s Proceeds of Corruption Unit, which investigated Ibori, were receiving payments in exchange for information about the ongoing investigation.

Invoices and other documents appearing to support the allegations have been anonymously posted to the Met and Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The documents have also been seen by the Guardian and separately sent to the home affairs committee, which is conducting an inquiry in whether private investigators should be subject to statutory regulation.

Keith Vaz, the chair of the committee, has said there is growing concern in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal that some private investigators are operating in “the shadows” of the law. The Commons inquiry has been scrutinising the nexus between private investigators – many of whom are retired police officers – and their former colleagues who are still serving.

On Tuesday morning, Mike Schwarz, a lawyer who represents one of Ibori’s co-accused, told the inquiry about what he understood to be the significance of the material.

He said it indicated possible corruption at the heart of the police investigation into the Nigerian politician’s money laundering activities. The invoices are alleged to be from RISC Management to Speechly Bircham, a top firm of lawyers hired by Ibori to prepare his defence.

Schwarz told MPs the invoices “perhaps” documented “payments made by RISC Management to sources, presumably police officers or those close to the investigation”. He added: “The records, which I think the committee have, show about half-a-dozen payments totalling about £20,000 over a period of eight or nine months [...] it appears to be inappropriate if not corrupt.”

Schwarz told the committee that he believed RISC Management had been hired to “extract” information from the police investigation into Ibori. He said he had also seen emails – which he believed had also been forwarded to the committee – which confirmed “contact” between detectives investigating Ibori and the private investigators.

Schwarz, from Bindmans solicitors, represents Bhadresh Gohil, a London-based solicitor jailed along with Ibori for orchestrating his money laundering scam. Gohil is now considering an appeal. Gohil is understood to have been sent the invoices, anonymously, while in Wandsworth Prison last summer.

In a statement, the Met said: “The [force] is investigating an allegation that illegal payments were made to police officers for information by a private investigation agency. The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in October 2011 which agreed to supervise a DPS investigation into the allegations.”

Following Schwarz’s evidence to parliament, the Met said it had dropped its previous claim to have recently “uncovered evidence” casting doubt on the allegations. Previously, the force had suggested an active line of inquiry was the theory that Gohil or his associates had fabricated the allegations to undermine the prosecution. In a previous statement, provided on Friday, the force said: “As a result of inquiries police have uncovered evidence that casts doubt on the credibility of these allegations. Warrants have been executed at two addresses in London and a quantity of paperwork and computer equipment recovered.”

Two weeks ago, following raids on properties, one of which was the Gohil’s family home in Kent, the force said: “Officers believe that they have identified the originator of the information and a line of enquiry suggests that there may have been an attempt to pervert the course of justice.”

However, sources at the Yard said previous statements no longer fully represented their position. A source with knowledge of the Met inquiry said the change of stance was unrelated to Schwarz’s parliamentary evidence. The source said that, instead, there had been developments in the investigation over the last 24 hours.

Schwarz named three serving Met police officers in his testimony to parliament as being potential “culprits”: detective inspector Gary Walters, detective constables named as John MacDonald and “Clark”. All three officers declined an opportunity to respond to the allegations when contacted by the Guardian last week. However, RISC Management indicated Walters would deny “any and all allegations”.

RISC Management denied all the allegations about the company, saying it was not aware of the Scotland Yard investigation and had no knowledge of the alleged financial records. The firm confirmed it had been hired by Ibori’s lawyers but denied making corrupt payments, saying it “has never paid a serving police officer for information and would never approve such payments”.

Keith Hunter, chief executive of the company, said: “RISC management does not need to pay serving police officers for confidential information as we pride ourselves on our ability to provide positive solutions and accurate information legitimately. RISC Management has a highly respected reputation for conducting professional investigations”.

He added that his company was “proud to have a network of highly professional consultants, contacts and resources. These individuals are hired precisely because of their unique skill set and expertise”.

He accused Schwarz of “grandstanding” in front of the Commons committee, instead of taking the “correct course of reporting the matter to the police”. He said Schwarz had not produced any evidence to support his claims and acted for a convicted solicitor, Gohil, who was jailed for seven years for money laundering.

Speechly Bircham denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and said it would be willing to assist with any police inquiries. The law firm stressed Schwarz did not suggest in his evidence to parliament that Speechly Bircham was “party to illegal or corrupt payments” and said any such allegation would be false and defamatory.

Ian Timlin, the former Speechly Bircham lawyer who was at the time representing Ibori, said neither he nor the firm had “any knowledge of any payments to police officers for information.” He added: “At no time, did RISC ever inform me who or what was the source/s they were paying.”

Metropolitan police
Police
Rob Evans
Paul Lewis

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cable-the-city-is-a-massive-cess...

Cable: The City is a massive cesspit
Business Secretary and Mervyn King savage culture at scandal-hit banks

The Government was under growing pressure last night to call a public inquiry into the behaviour of Britain's bankers as the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, admitted the sector was a “massive cesspit” that needed cleaning up.

Even business leaders turned on the City and demanded a cull at the top of British banks, with some investors at Barclays agitating for a management change after its £290m fine for trying to fix Libor, the rate banks charge to borrow from each other.

The Bank of England Governor, Sir Mervyn King, launched a scathing attack on the banking industry and demanded a "real change in culture".

Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays, could be called before Parliament as early as Wednesday to answer questions about when he first became aware of the practice. The bank's chairman, Marcus Agius, will probably also be called to appear "if he is still in a job," sources on the Treasury Select Committee said.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, called for a judge-led inquiry into the industry, asserting that the problem "goes far beyond individuals". But he also singled out Mr Diamond, adding to the pressure on him to resign: "I think it's pretty clear that change is required at Barclays. It's very hard to see that being led by Bob Diamond."

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/01/248784/israelis-protest-social-inequalit...

Israelis protest rising cost of living, social inequalities


Israelis hold banners as they protest in Tel Aviv city on June 30, 2012

Thousands of Israelis have staged rallies in several cities to protest against social inequalities and the rising cost of living.


The demonstrations were held in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem (al-Quds) and the northern city of Haifa on Saturday in an attempt to revive last summer’s cost-of-living protest movement.

The protesters shouted, "The only solution to privatization is revolution" and "Power from money is the underworld.”

Uri Metouki, one of the organizers, said the protesters wanted "an economy that serves the people, not just a minority.”

The protests came about a week after the Israeli police arrested almost 100 demonstrators in Tel Aviv following the detention of Dafni Leef, one of the leaders of the 2011 movement.

Leef and 11 other protesters were arrested on June 23 as they tried to put up tents in Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard in a bid to revive the social justice protests.

In July 2011, Leef, along with a group of young people, set up several tents on the boulevard to demand social justice and protest the high cost of living in Israel.

The protest action sparked a massive movement, which swept Israel for several months.

JMA/MF/MA

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/03/nicolas-sarkozy-home-raided-police?n...

Nicolas Sarkozy's home raided by French police



French police have raided the home and offices of the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy as part of an investigation into illegal campaign financing and alleged brown envelopes of cash from France's wealthiest woman, the L'Oreal hairspray heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

Police searched the mansion rented by Carla Bruni in a chic gated community in the west of Paris, where she and Sarkozy live with Bruni's 11-year-old son and the couple's new baby daughter. Officers also searched the office of the legal firm where Sarkozy is a partner and the new office he moved into after losing the presidential election to Socialist Francois Hollande in May.

The Sarkozys were not present as they had left for a Quebec chalet holiday on Monday, Sarkozy's lawyer said.

As president, Sarkozy had judicial immunity which protected him from legal investigations, but this expired on 16 June.

A judge in Bordeaux is currently investigating whether Sarkozy's right-wing UMP party benefited from envelopes of cash from the ageing and mentally fragile Bettencourt, during Sarkozy's successful election campaign in 2007. The investigating magistrate is trying to establish whether Sarkozy's campaign might have received euro 800,000 in illegal funding, and whether transfers from Swiss accounts may have been handed over to Sarkozy's campaign treasurer or even to Sarkozy himself.

In February, Eric Woerth, the former French budget minister and treasurer of Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, was placed under judicial investigation over cash he was alleged to have received from the billionaire Bettencourt to fund the 2007 campaign. He denies any wrongdoing.

The investigation is part of the wider Bettencourt saga, which has gripped France for years with plot-twists including a disgruntled butler who hid a tape-recorder in the drawing room, and, crucially, security services at the head of the French state which might have spied on journalists to hush it all up.

Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, said the raids would show nothing and that he had already supplied information to investigators that debunked suspicions of secret meetings with Bettencourt. "These raids ... will as expected prove futile," Herzog said in a statement.

Herzog said magistrates looking into whether Sarkozy had received campaign funds from Bettencourt had been supplied with diary details of all Sarkozy appointments in 2007. Those details, he said, "prove that the purported 'secret meetings' with Madame Liliane Bettencourt were impossible".

Sarkozy, 57, who has taken a low profile since his defeat, could come under the spotlight in a number of legal cases now that he is no longer head of state.

He could also become a focus of the separate investigation into whether or not there was a shady "cabinet noir" at the highest reaches of the French government which used the secret services to spy on journalists at Le Monde to uncover their sources for stories about the Bettencourt affair. A security chief and Sarkozy ally has been placed under investigation in the alleged political spying scandal. Sarkozy has denied any links to the case.

You'd throw one into Carla Bruni.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/07/249684/romanian-president-impeached/

Romanian president impeached


Romanian President Traian Basescu delivers a speech to parliament on July 6, 2012.

Romanian MPs have voted to impeach President Traian Basescu, initiating a process that could oust the unpopular leader in a national referendum.


Some 256 of the bicameral parliament's 372 deputies voted to impeach Basescu, 114 voted against the motion, and two votes were canceled, the final count showed.

Senate Speaker Crin Antonescu, who will serve as interim president now that Basescu has been effectively suspended from the role, announced that a popular referendum on Basescu's fate will be held on July 29.

Ever since he was sworn in as prime minister in May, Victor Ponta and his coalition government have been embroiled in a bitter power struggle with Basescu that has thrown the Eastern European country of 19 million into a political crisis.

Parliament finally voted to impeach Basescu, who first took office in 2004, on the charge that he assumed the powers of the prime minister in 2010 to announce severe austerity cuts when the country was hit by recession. Basescu’s government agreed to adopt austerity measures to secure a multi-billion-dollar bailout package from the European Union and the IMF.

The 60-year-old Basescu was also impeached in 2007, but survived in a referendum. However this time, with his approval ratings dramatically lower than five years ago, the Romanian president is in serious danger of being forced out of office.

Hundreds of Romanians poured into the streets of downtown Bucharest to celebrate the news of Basescu’s impeachment, while a smaller crowd staged a rally in support of the beleaguered president.

GJH/MF/HGL

Dozens of Catholic churches and schools are being shut down across the US.

http://www.infowars.com/fast-and-furious-five-charged-in-agent-brian-terrys-deat...

Fast and Furious: Five charged in agent Brian Terry’s death

Tim Mak
Politico
July 9, 2012



The Justice Department on Monday indicted five individuals in the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry — a central figure in the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal — and offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest of four of them.
Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, Ivan Soto-Barraza, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes and Lionel Portillo-Meza were charged with a variety of crimes including first degree murder, second degree murder and assaulting a federal officer, among other charges.
The indictment alleges that the five of them entered the United States from Mexico illegally in the hopes of robbing drug traffickers. On the night of Dec. 14, 2010, they engaged in a firefight with U.S. Border Patrol agents that led to Terry’s death.

Read full article

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78243.html#ixzz209QixFtX