VAT fraud - a profitable business - £400 Mn a month ..ish

Missing Trader Intra-Community (MTIC), or 'missing trader' fraud , is a highly sophisticated and organised criminal attack on the UK VAT system. It is an EU-wide scam, estimated to have cost the UK government between £1.12billion and £1.9 billion in 2004/05. The sums being lost are so huge they have been distorting the country's trade statistics and income - UK VAT revenues fell last year, the first time since its introduction 1973. The Torygraph report that the Inland Revenue's £1.155 billion slice of £6.6 billion of imports, out of a total £45.7 billion worth of EU imports, has been lost over the first quarter of 2006. The annual loss will be £4.6 Bn in 2006 if it continues unabated. The Office of National Statistics announced last month that such fraud fell by £500m to £1.2bn between July and August.

Criminals import compact , high value goods such as mobile phones and computer chips, free of VAT, from other countries in the European Union. The goods are sold on with VAT in the UK , but the criminals disappear with the tax they have collected instead of handing it over to the tax collectors, HMRC. Newer variations involved extra EU nations especially Switzerland. There has been some success against one operation .....

Avantis Trading Ltd, Diamond Traders International Limited and Sovereign Imports Limited were connected companies based in Birmngham which turned over a staggering £185 million in 7 months.

They operated a complex and sophisticated scam that was unravelled by officers from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and has involved 3 separate trials:

Trial 1.

In April 2006, Asad Chohan and Saajid Chohan were found guilty of evading excise duty of £750,000 under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 following the seizure of 2.4 tonnes of hand rolling tobacco at Dover Eastern Docks on 17 August 2000.

Asad Hussain Chohan, (38) of Wake Green Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to four years in prison in April 2006 and one year consecutive, for absconding during the trial. He is believed to be in Pakistan. He will face trial in relation to the 'missing trader' fraud and money laundering activities when (and if) re-arrested.

His younger brother , Saajid Chohan (33) of Wake Green Road Birmingham, was sentenced to 18 months in prison

Trial 2

In July 2006, Saajid Hussain Chohan (33) and Mohammed Ilyas pleaded guilty to cheating the public revenue of £5.17million in a 'missing trader' fraud. Saajid Chohan (33) was sentenced to a further four years in prison for the 'missing trader' fraud in July 2006. A Confiscation Order of £120,318 was also made and a further two years will be added to his sentence if he defaults on the Order.

Mohammed Ilyas, (46) of Bagnell Road, Birmingham, was sentenced to three years in prison .

Trial 3

Concluded on Wednesday 15 November 2006 in Birmingham Crown Court , Samiah Ali Chohan (34) and wife of Asad, was found guilty of a money laundering offence under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, through the purchase of a property, valued at around £380,000. She gave a previous address of Wake Green Road, Birmingham, and now of "Lauriston", Manchester Road, Rochdale, and was sentenced to a Community Service Order of 80 hours.Pic shows, bijou, compact 10 bedroom Victorian textile magnates mansion, "Lauriston", Manchester Road, Rochdale.

The court heard that the organised crime group was controlled by Asad Chohan and included his brother Saajid Chohan, his wife Samiah Ali Chohan and Mohammed Ilyas, the family bookkeeper and a member of the Institute of Accounting Technicians.

Chris Ballard, assistant chief investigation Officer for Revenue & Customs said:

"This was not some kind of advanced tax planning, but organised fraud on a massive scale perpetrated by criminals.

"They had the active co-operation of professionals in the legal and accountancy sectors, all bent on making fast and easy profits at the expense of the British taxpayer."

Investigations into the Chohan frauds led to a separate, investigation which identified over £200 million of 'missing trader' money being laundered through a firm of solicitors, Beveridge Gauntlet of Fleet, Hampshire.

The firm had been launched a year earlier with an overdraft teamed up with "dodgy clients" transforming its "sacrosanct" client account into a bank, it was claimed in court. 7 sham companies were able to launder £250 million between May 2002 and March 2003 through the firm's client bank account. The use of the solicitors' client account gave the fraud an air of legitimacy.
The company's Legal Executive Laurence Ford (56), twice divorced father of two children, was sentenced to 6 years in prison in June 2006 at Southwark Crown Court for money laundering offences contrary to Section 93C of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. he is said to have been paid £40,000 for his work.

The partners of the firm Matthew Gauntlett ( Law Society Council member) and Sarah Beveridge were found not guilty at the trial (the first time solicitors had been charged with such offences), and Mr Justice Rivlin said , " ...(they) were acquitted [because] the jury accepted their case that on any view they were both wholly unsuited to the responsibilities of running a practice on their own. That not merely were they inexperienced, (MG was a Law Society Council member- for Christ sakes !!) but they were quite out of their depth, neither having the strength of personality to run a firm themselves. They were woefully [unable to] fulfil the responsibility expected of partners.’

It must have cheered up the HMC when Elizabeth Robinson, of Peters & Peters, the lawyer representing Sarah Beveridge was made Lawyer of the Week by The Times on June 13, 2006. She had been working on this case for three years and the barristers involved, Andrew Radcliffe, QC, and Tom Forster, for two years. The costs for the "out of depth" lawyers defence in the 6 weeek trial would make your eyes water. - and would be paid by HMC.

Beveridge Gauntlett, was closed down by the Law Society three years ago. Their rather grand address of "Rosebank Chambers " was in fact a first floor office above an off-licence and estate agent, in an ordinary shopping parade in the village of Yateley, near Aldershot in Hampshire.

Having locked up Ford, (which took over 3 years) HM Customs officers have yet to find the ringleaders. A senior partner at accountants Grant Thornton, said: "This guy is the tip of the iceberg. Government attempts to crackdown on this type of fraud seem to be having no effect whatsoever."

On Wednesday 15 September 2006 HM Customs issued HMRC Business Brief 14/06 with dertails of what is called Reverse Charge Accounting for traders in Mobile phones, computer chips, electronic storage meda (memory cards) for MP3 players,palm computers, GSP driven Sat Nav systems and electronic game consoles which they expected to introduce on December 1st 2006. On the 10th November they announced a delay (Because EU discussions about the necessary derogation are still continuing ?) and stated they would give traders 8 weeks notice when it was introduced.

Reverse Charge accounting changes the responsibility for VAT payment to the purchaser, rather than the seller - subject of course to all sorts of conditions - small transactions etc.,

It is hoped that this change in accounting will eliminate the fraud. Don't hold your breath.

Kazakh oil / National Energy - Russia - China - India and territorial / economic dominance

The Kazkah government looked set to approve by the end of December the China International Trust & Investment Corp (CITIC) . bid to $1.9 billion to buy the Kazakhstan oil assets of Canada's Nations Energy Co., The deal is dependent upon several approvals including the waiver of pre-emptive rights of the Kazakh government, which last year amended laws to give it first option on the sale of mineral resources and possibly on corporate deals.

It is further evidence of China's ruthless quest to hoover up oil supplies, to meet their massive growth in demand.

CITIC is reported to be planning a "medium-size'' oil refinery in the Mangistau Oblast region when they have found some strategic Kazakh partners.

CITIC quoted in Hong Kong rose 1% to HK$1.62 , their biggest gain in a year.
www.cnpc.com.cn/english/

However Russian news service Interfax reports (16th Nov) from (old) Kazakh capital Almaty (pic of Statue of Indpendence) that Energy and Natural Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov told a committee of the Kazakh parliament that the proposed sale should be blocked and

"We should, or rather I should in the first place, take urgent measures to stop this agreement over Karazhanbasmunai,"

Karazhanbasmunai is the unit of Nations Energy that operates the Karazhanbas oilfield in western Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Channel 13 TV reports (BBC monitoring 16th Nov) that fear of Chinese expansion is today's political fashion. MPs who recently had an outburst of China phobia are setting the tone for xenophobia. Some MPs say that if China continues to buy out Kazakh oil, the republic would soon become merely raw materials appendage to Beijing.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) acquired Calgary based PetroKazakhstan Inc. in a US$ 4.18 Mn (HK$32.6 billion) deal on October 26th 2005 which bought them the Karazhanbasmunay bloc, the second biggest (known) production asset in Kazakhstan and co-operation with KazMunaiGaz to operate and manage the PK project. It was said at the time that oil hungry India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp was also in the bidding. (see connection to LUKoil below)

Part of the deal involved the development of the Darkhan field in the North caspian 60 Km south of Bautino in working waters of 3-5 metres which is said to have 480Mn Tons of fuel equivalent.

KazMunaiGaz produces about 16 % if Kazakh oil output. It controls 65 % of Kazakhstan's oil transport routes and 100 percent of gas transport pipelines and in 2005 produced
65 million barrels with revenues of t US$4.7 billion (Ђ3.8 billion), 31.4% up on 2004.

Overall Kazakh oil output , says the Oil Ministry, is planned to grow from the current 1.3 million barrels to 3 million barrels a day by 2015, according to the Oil Ministry.

CITIC , quoted in Hong Kong rose 1% to HK$1.62 , their biggest gain in a year.
http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/search?q=Nursultan+Nazarbayev+embraces

Readers might remember Lord Patel posting about Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's ambitions on Thursday, April 6 2006
Nursultan Nazarbayev embraces Mother Russia ... and Putin

"Russian state-controlled media, including the RTR television channel and Radio Mayak, report Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s recent three-day visit to Moscow as a potential turning point in Putin’s struggle for control of the Caspian Basin’s oil and gas reserves...."

or

Monday, March 27 2006
Hashim Djojohadikusumo sells Nations Energy to Vagit Alekperov

"Vagit Alekperov told me over the gaming tables in Northern Cyprus that he has his eyes on Nations Energy – a price tag of $2.5Bn is attached. Expect news any day he said."

Two lessons :
1. President Nursultan Nazarbayev plays a long game.
2. So does Hashim Djojohadikusumo and his Indonesian pals, owners of National Energy Ltd (until December)
3. Don't hang around gambling tables and expect to be told the truth, the whole truth .....

A 962-kilometer (598-mile) Atasu-Alashankou pipeline completed in December at a cost of $800 million transports crude to China National's refinery in Dushanzi, close to China's northwestern border with Kazakhstan. Russian state owned Transneft have announced the intention to export 7 million tons (51.3 mln bbl) in 2007, to China on this route. Only this week have Transneft announced the final part of the pipeline from Russia to China with the first leg from Taishet in East Siberia to Skovorodino near the Chinese border to be completed by the end of 2008 for which China will pay US$400 Mn.

Mr Lowry, sold down the river

Laurence Lowry's view of the murky Irwell cost the buyer £1,408,000, more than Mr Lowry earned in his life. The citizens of Bury will receive (after, commissions, taxes, insurances, carriage, packing) £1,250,000, a fair return on their investment of £175 in 1951 when £500 was a good annual salary.

If he is in heaven, Mr. Lowry's twinkling blue eyes will be smiling.

It was in the late fifties when I first knew Mr Lowry. Like him I used to haunt the Manchester Art Gallery on Mosley Street, a step from my father's office in George Street - adjacent to the lift shaft down to the Regional Command Centre being silently and secretly hewed out from under Manchester's City Centre.

Friendly and chatty he taught me about the pre-Raphaelites, (of which it transpired he was a canny buyer) showed me the techniques, told stories about them, swooned over the women, and bought me cups of tea in the cafe overlooking Princess Street. He would ask me to get extra sugar cubes and pocketed them - he had a sweet tooth and nature to match.

Years later I bought a gouache of central Mottram and Battle Hill where Lowry lived, from the Tib Lane Gallery by Pat Gerard, her first ever commercial sale. She was then a teacher at Altrincham Girls Grammar School and as a child lived a few doors down from Mr Lowry - one of his young girl friends.

Through her I met him again, older, testy, suspicious of the art critics, dealers, collectors, he was happy to take their money.

His fame amazes me, it would have mystified him. The Lowry industry would have disgusted him, it's architects and saprophytes even more so.

His paintings were a jumble of canvas, wood and paint - take them or leave them was his view.

It would of course be delightful - and Mr Lowry would have enyoyed it - if the burghers of Bury used the proceeds to buy some more pictures from local artists of local interest.

They won't, they'll simply piss it up against the wall.

Bury Art Gallery & Museum is on the delighfully named Paradise Street and is well worth a visit - Local paper manufacturer and business magnate Thomas Wrigley' family gave his collection of Victorian art, to the town in celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. There are some magnificent pictures from the Stott family - but no Pre-Raphaelites - Wrigley disliked them.

They have anew exhibition which opened tonight with a bun fight

IDEAS is a selling show, the ideal place to find Christmas gifts with a bit of a difference. This exhibition showcases work by some of the North West's most innovative contemporary designers and artists. A diverse range of original designs are featured in a variety of media and material.

There will be a special launch of the exhibition on 17 November, 6pm to 8pm. Please join us for a glass of wine and take advantage of the 10% discount we will be offering for items in the show.

There are some beautiful handbags.

ITV - The Kaleidoscope has been shaken

Mid afternoontoday Brandes (8%) and Fidelity(11%) the 2 largest shareholders in ITV were approached to sell their shares at 125p.

Finally they agreed (with others) to sell 18.9 % of the issued shares to Murdoch's BSkyB (39% owned by News Corp.) at a finally negotiated price of 135 p per share. A premium of over 20p (16.6%)on the market price at the time (115.7p up 1% on day) but not announced until the close of the market.

This punt of £ 940 Mn. scooping 696 million shares gives Murdoch 17.9% - The 2003 Communications Act, prohibits BSkyB from controlling more than 20% of ITV. Whilst it does not give the Australian American media monster control, it gives him a very powerful voice in the boardroom.

This follows stories earlier that RTL (34 television and 33 radio stations in 11 countries - dire Channel 5 in the UK), part of the German Bertelsmann media Empire was working with private equity firms on a potential £5bn (US$9.4 Bn.)bid for ITV. RTL were said to be running the ruler over ITV in cahoots with private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which has Lord Hollick as a partner.

Last week heavily indebted US based NTL (whose largest shareholder is the bearded wonder, serial groper, Sir Dickie Branson) confirmed that it is to hold talks with the broadcaster about a potential tie-up, although these do not appear to have happened yet. Murdoch will not be anxious to see competitors from the cable networks muscling in on what he sees as his fiefdom.

It would be foolish to overlook the interests of Apax Partners who now own 49.9% of Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CME) (NASDAQ/Prague Stock Exchange: CETV) and who have previously been involved in a private equity gang who withdrew a bid earlier which involved Greg Dyke.

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) are also said to be interested in bidding.

As a tiny part of the deal, as a consolidation of ITV's media interests , we may see the tired and outdated Friends re-United outfit (costing ITV, £120Mn over a period of time) be swallowed up in Murdoch's My Space. Should RTL emerge as winners, and have to divest itself of Channel 5 (required by law) then a nice swapparooney looms for Murdoch.

Finally, how will BBC and Channel 4 compete with Sky / ITV / NTL for US TV rights, series , sports ?

IT'S KALEIDOSCOPE TIME FOLKS !!

To quote from our Dear leader after 9/11 when he spoke so movingly at Sedgefield....

"The kaleidoscope has been shaken,The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again."

For those amongst us who are lost by his imagery, turnto page 30 of that masterpiece of 20th Century philosophy by Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, and look at page 30:

"Five months ago, the kaleidoscope of power had been shaken, and Aringarosa was still reeling from the blow."

...and watch out for Lew Grade's son to find himself a new job!

Enver Hodge - "The Truth will set you Free" - A Damascene revelation

Eric Gorden, genial, bearded and bespectacled , 40 years a hack and now Editor of the Islington Tribune was present with his shorthand notebook and pencil at a meeting last Friday at the London Resource Centre in Holloway Road. He was the invited guest of his friend Labour Party member Chris Roche who introduced him to many of those present .



Ex near neighbour and (and probably ex )friend of the Blairs, Margaret "Enver" Hodge, now a Minister at the Department of Trade & Industry (her 4th Ministerial post) , in a Q & A session after a prepared speech , and a generous spread of nut cutlets and organic yoghurt, told the assembled Fabianistas that the Iraq war had been the Prime Minister's "big mistake in foreign affairs".

She accepted the Prime Minister's arguments about the dangers posed by Iraq in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion because she said in answer to a question - "he was our leader and I trusted him".

Shed of the scales that occluded her vision she singled out Mr Blair's "moral imperialism" - importing British attitudes and ideas to other countries - for particular criticism.

In another fit of truthfulness the Member for one step beyond Dagenham - Barking , whom fans of the blonde bimbo will remember her recruiting cry for the BNP in April before the Local Elections this year.

The Torygraph were deliriously happy to report her claim on April 11th (curiously the 21st Anniversary of the death of her eponymous hero Enver Hoxha) hero that eight out of 10 white people in her east London constituency of Barking were threatening to vote for the far-Right BNP in the local elections.

"They can't get a home for their children, they see black and ethnic minority communities moving in and they are angry,"

Said Mrs Hodge, (then) the employment minister.

"When I knock on doors I say to people, 'are you tempted to vote BNP?' and many, many, many - eight out of 10 of the white families - say 'yes'. That's something we have never seen before, in all my years. Even when people voted BNP, they used to be ashamed to vote BNP. Now they are not."

Mrs Hodge said the pace of ethnic change in her area had frightened people.

"What has happened in Barking and Dagenham is the most rapid transformation of a community we have ever witnessed."

Should the Prime Minister haul her over the coals for her irreverence she might well recall what her guiding light Enver Hoxha told Stalin on his first meeting with Stalin in July 1947 (the year of her birth incidentally) in explaining his problems with internal dissent ..

" .... we still cannot say that internal reaction is no longer active. It is not capable of organizing any really dangerous attack upon us, but still it is making propaganda and mischief against us"

He was also keen to explain to Stalin how British perfidy was even then causing international strife ...

"The Corfu Channel incident," I told Comrade Stalin, "is a concoction of the British from start to finish in order to provoke our country and to find a pretext for military intervention"

Plus ca change ....

UK Energy supplies face uncertainty this winter

Roy Anderson head of Nuclear Generation at British Energy ( appointed July 2004 , pay = £1.3 Mn. incl. £800K "bonus") has resigned and CEO Bill Coley has "taken direct control of nuclear operations." Today British Energy has 38 % of its nuclear capacity out of service, or 3,620 megawatts from a total of 9,568 megawatts.

British Energy supplies approx 20% of UK electricity from 8 nuclear power stations incorporating 12 nuclear power plants. They have recently revealed a series of engineering problems with cracked pipes and ensuing leaks.6 of British Energy's 16 reactors are shut to repair parts of the plants, some of which are more than 30 years old.

Current plans for repairs are and re-starts are ;

2 units - Hunterston and Hinkley Point to restart by the end of December 2006 and the other 2 units ( 1 at each site) are scheduled to restart by the end of January. The 4 units will run at 70% capacity up to end March 2008.

The 2 units at Hartlepool , shut down in September will resume production in December, all this work will involve "investment" over the next 2 years in the region of £500/£600 Mn.

Production will be cut for at least 16 months - which results the company said today in a reduction in output of 8.2% (5 terawatt hours or more until at least March 2008) on forecast annual production - 61 to 63 terawatt hours of electricity (2005 national ouput 398 terawatt-hours)

Lakis Athanasiou, an analyst at Collins Stewart Ltd. in London is quoted on Bloomberg where he estimates that British Energy's full year output will be in a range from 48 terawatt hours to 56 terawatt hours.

Due to higher electricity wholesale prices , Company profits announced today zoomed from £212m to £481m rsulting in earnings per share rocketing 4 fold from 3.5p to 14.3p a share.

This will stop the Gubments plans for a £3.5 Bn sell off of part of its 65% holding - quite how it affects UK energy security it is difficult to calculate. It is manifest that the forthcoming 2 UK winter quarters will be met with significantly reduced spare production capacity

UPDATE 6.30 GMT
The shares (BGY.L) opened up 40 p down but ended today, up 8p today at 477p.

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/cgi-bin/vacdetails.pl?selection=920941166&src=rss_jbe

British Energy are looking for a Permanent Deputy in Information Management (£30/40K security vetted) for immediate employment at Sizewell.
They say ...

The last six months have been an exciting period of change for our Information Management Department, and it's not over yet,

You bet.

The applicant must also ......

* Have well-developed communication skills, and a methodical approach to problem solving.

Which seems to be required at all levels within the company.

Israeli Lobby consolidate control over US lawmakers

No sooner was the ink dry on Lord Patel's posting about the dot to dot connections between Pelosi / Hoyer and sister Bernice than the results came out of the Democrats voting / selection of their team under Nancy. (see pic)

John Murtha, the 74-year-old Democrat from Pennsylvania (13 terms in 26 years) who has called for an early U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, was challenging comparative youngster 67 year old Maryland Democrat Steny Hoyer for the post of Majority Leader - and was said to be supported by cake baking Nancy.

House Democrats voted FOR Steny Hoyer as House Majority Leader by a stonking 149-86, probably sunk by the dredging up of Murtha's alleged involvement in the 1980s FBI Abscam "sting" scandal in which he was neither indicted or prosecuted.

The Press have represented this as a setback for Pelosi who backed Murtha but Hoyer and Pelosi have worked seamlessly together for 4 years and as Rep. Barney Frank (D), Massachusetts said on PBS today "There is zero, zero evidence that any friction between them"

Jim Clyburn, - “you catch many more flies with honey than you do with vinegar," - an African-American from South Carolina,first elected in 1992 and former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1998 (CBC) will be Democratic whip. He is also chairman of the House Faith Working Group. Margaret Kimberley at Black Commenator has some intersting points to make about the CBC and the Israeli Lobby.

Ex ballet dancer Rahm "Rahmbo" Emmanuel first elected in 2003 for the northside of Chicago (78% of the vote) will head the Democratic caucus, the number four position in the hierarchy after a great success as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He comes trailing clouds of glory as a Clinton aide and is said to be the model for Josh Lyman in The West Wing. He also picked up US$18 Mn as a partner when Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein when they sold out ( he worked there from 1999 to 2002) - which is why Edward Moskal of the Polish American Congress and backer of his opponent Nancy Kaszak called him a "millionaire carpetbagger".

His show biz agent brother acts for Michale Moore and Baron Sacha-Cohen - Borak / Ali G.

Whilst looking for more information about Nancy it appeared that readers might share the recent thoughts of Jennifer Jacobson, Jewish Journal.com

"Nancy Pelosi's links to Israel are strong and personal"

"My daughter is Catholic. My son-in-law is Jewish," she said. "Last week I celebrated my birthday and my grandchildren -- ages 4 and 6 -- called to sing 'Happy Birthday.' And the surprise, the real gift, was that they sang it in Hebrew."

She reports and makes the remark ...

"Political observers say it's no surprise that the congresswoman from San Francisco considers herself close to the Jews. "

Which all looks as though AIPAC et al have more friends and more influence over the lawmakers than ever. So expect the US Army to continue to act as surrogate forces for Israel and Zionism -so don't expect any withdrawal of troops from Iraq soon. Note this graphic from the NYT today of intensified activity by USAF in Afghanistan and reduced activity in Iraq. In one run a B1 ,re-located from Diego Garcia ,dropped its entire payload of 8 x 2,000-pound bombs and 6 x 500-pound bombs after ground units called for help

Meanwhile NATO military focres from Alte Europa have been installed as an Army of occupation in the South of Lebanon to keep Hezbollah off the border - which Israeli jets increasingly fly over "to check on any arms reaching Hezbollah".

EU Carbon Trading a massive failure......Sssscccchhhh!!!

Here is a graph of the EU ETS price i.e the traded price of 1 ton of carbon in Euros - for the last month.

Looks like the market is a huge success having reached the lowest price levels ever. Or as Point Carbon said today (principal booster of this Alice in Wonderland casino) said ..."First-phase CO2 allowances in the EU emissions trading scheme took a dive today as the December 2006 contract lost €0.30 on yesterday to close at €8.60 at 17.30 CET."(Close of biz Friday 17th Nov down 10 cents to €8.60)

Meanwhile the Kyoto bandwagon rolled merrily along in Nairobi with the gravy train riders persisting in the illusion that carbon trading is going to prove effective - so far it's success is to take money from the credulous and place it in the capacious pockets of share boosters, consultants, lawyers and oher snake oil merchants.

AIPAC / Pelosi/ Democrats - Joining the Dots

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD) spoke to the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference on Sunday May 16th 2004.
"...What a strong, strong voice for Israel. What a strong voice – (applause) – for human rights and what a strong voice for America. Howard, I am so proud to be your close friend. However; you took 90 percent of my time. (care to elaborate on how that time was spent Mr Hoyer?), (Laughter.) that’s the bad news. The good news? Nobody in the audience who knows you is shocked.

Now let me speak about my sister, Bernice, (AIPAC President Bernice Manocherian) your incoming president. She and I were born not together, but at the same hospital in New York City. I was born at least a couple of decades before Bernice. Bernice does not have a microphone, but she said, absolutely. Bernice, we are so proud of you, we sons and daughters of the Fifth Avenue Flower Hospital. And I lookforward to working as closely with you as I have with Amy – as I have with Howard. I know you will do an extraordinary job. (Applause.)

Steny Hoyer is of course the Democratic Whip

...and Bernice was Chairman of AIPAC when Nancy Pelosi and Condileeza Rice addressed the Annual AIPAC Policy Conference in May 2005 whose uplifting comments about the Israel / US relationship were noted recently by Lord Patel.

Doh!

PS Grubbing around at the Whips site I discovered this fascinating example of how the lawmakers of the world's most powerful nation spend their time.

H.RES.1078
Title: Congratulating the St. Louis Cardinals on winning the 2006 World Series.
Sponsor: Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] (introduced 11/13/2006) Cosponsors (50)
Latest Major Action: 11/15/2006 Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 395 - 0 (Roll no. 523).

At least all the lunatics in the asylum can agree on something.

Aiding Africa - Tony, Barclays and BAE - a curious tale of President Kikwete and kickbacks

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of Tanzania has just returned from a gruelling tour taking in China, Japan, South Korea and Arab Emirates (UAE) which took in joining 44 other African leaders and heads of state for a Sino-Africa summit in Beijing.

While in China , the President will also had the opportunity to have a chat with Vice President of the World Bank, African Zone. Gobind Nanani.

It is not known if they discussed the matters raised in the Times this week about the way Tony Blair and Patricia Hewitt overruled Gordon Brown and Clare Short to grant BAE a government export licence for a military air traffic control system to Tanzabia. The World Bank at the time questioned why Tanzania, which has only eight military aircraft, needed a military system.

Of particular interest (apparently also to the Serious Fraud Office SFO) was the unique funding for this £28 Mn system that kept 250 workers on the Isle of Wight busy.

Apparently Barclays - who of course are rowing back in Africa from contempt for their support for South Africa's apartheid regime - provided in 1999 a £40 million loan from Barclays Bank - which subsequently was paid from aid given to Tanzania by Britain to assist sustainable development, including primary education.

Cosily and coincidentally Barclays were granted in October 2000 Barclays a banking licence to open branches in Tanzania. Their website baldly states ...

Barclays opened a new business in Tanzania in October 2000.

Ill informed , malicious, stupid observers who claim the difference between the loan and cost of the system was somehow squirreled away as kickbacks / bribes / gifts are evidently in error.

Continuing it's waste of taxpayer's funds the SFO has visited (the then ex-Minister for Overseas Aid) Clare Short MP who told her that told her that they had received documents suggesting corruption concerning this contract.

The Times reports her saying ,

“Although I never knew any details of corruption, it was always clear that that contract could not have been honestly obtained and I am delighted that the truth is coming to light.”

What can she possibly mean ?

PS It may be of interest that Barclays Bank, is unionised in neighbouring countries to Tanzania such as Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe but refuses to recognise the Tanzania Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers (TUICO) the right to organise their employees.

UKC - Get rich Quick - With thanks to Mrs Thatcher

To those who look upon Lord Patel merely as a share tipster they will not be disappointed if they took his advice in June to buy UK Coal (LSE:UKC) at 147p which broached £4.00 this am.

McCartney condemns Cash for Honours SCAM

Ipedia Limited was incorporated on 17 January 2006 with a registered office and trading address at 4 Shepherds Way, Tilford, Surrey GU10 2AB.. The sole director of the company from 6 June 2006 was Mr Stephen Andrew Cocker. Mrs Joanne Cocker was the company secretary.

The registered office was a shed in the Cocker's garden. Their route to riches was detailed on their website www.channel6TV.co.uk . The server has closed down but the this link will take you to the fascinating cached home page.

Basically these wannabe billionaires (mis)represented themselves as controlling a media company called Channel 6TV with an internet television station on which it was about to broadcast. It claimed the TV channel would follow the progress of applicants as they worked on the Billion Pound Empire.

Applicants responding to the company's internet advertisements were invited to pay a £150 fee to become part of this tantalising prospect project (Curiously enough not named Project Midas) whereby 1000 individuals would each make £1 million in one year thereby creating a billion pound business empire - apparently 93 poor saps sent off their cheques. Some savvy keyboardists at Shell Live Wire had smelled out the scam by April 2006.

The harsh reqality was the garden shed at 4 Shepherds Way had no equipment, no studio and was incapable of producing a television programme or carrying out what it purported to offer. The company had no proper banking arrangements and did not keep adequate accounting records.

This comic duo had their dreams wound up in the High Court today after an investigation by the Companies Investigation Branch (CIB) of The Insolvency Service.

Consumer Minister Ian McCartney said:
"These scams are outrageous, ripping off those who can least afford it. The people behind them have no shame and we will not hesitate to shut them down".

It is not known if the scam Mr McCartney was referring to related to taking in "donations "(...er..."loans") to the New Labour Party in exchange for some very fancy dress and saucy headgear, and the right to interfere with preparing UK legislation whilst being paid a handsome retainer.

It is good to see Mr McCartney is up and about after his two heart operations in summer 2005, especially as he survived a visit by pert, raven haired, glamorous, pouting suspender clad Ruth Turner ( Prime Minister's head of government relations - see pic of visit (c) Lancashire Evening Post) bearing flowers, restorative grapes (see pic) messages of goodwill and some tiresome paperwork for House of Lords Appointments Commission enabling New Labour donors to be put forward for peerages.

On reflection this was DEFINITELY not the scam that Mr McCartney Consumer Minister was referring to today. NO. NO. Miss Ruth Turner did not supply nor did Mr McCartney sign false certificates stating untruths about the status of loans / donations / gifts of millions of pounds to the New Labour Party by good honest down to earth working class folk who had been proposed for Life Peerages. NO. Absolutely Not.

...and Inspector Knacker (nee Yates) of the Yard is evidently wasting not only his time but considerable sums of tax payers money in pursuing this "ludicrous endeavour."Yes. Completely.Totally. Time better spent chasing Muslims who have books about Ju-jitsu and look very, very suspicious.


PS. Channel 6TV is a very respectable TV station serving residents of Central Kentucky in Marion, Washington and Nelson Counties. http://www.channel6tv.com/

9/11 Seismic shocks and Commission lies / Gubment deceit and Able Danger

The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University (LDEO) has a dumb piece of kit that shakes when the earth shakes. Besides recording the shakes, rattles and rolls of the tectonic plate that New York sits on it, it records the time according to UTC - that's Co - ordinated Universal Time - the world’s very precise atomic clock system.

On the morning of 11th September 2001 this silent sentinel recorded two earth shattering ( or more correctly Earth shuddering) events - they were timed precisely as follows ;

The first significant seismic event that day was timed at UTC 12:46:26±1 second = 08:46:26 EDT
The second seismic significant event that day was timed at UTC 13:02:54±2 seconds = 09:02:54 EDT

You will recall that two airliners ploughed into the WTC towers that day at about that time - er - well you were nearly right.

The 2004 Commission timed the following

AA Flight 11 hit WTC North at 08:46:40 EDT - 14 second after the record of the seismic trace at LDEO
UA Flight 175 hit WTC South at 09:03:11 EDT - 17 seconds after the LDEO record

see : - The Commission’s times are based upon: “We have determined that the impact time was 9:03:11 based on our analysis of FAA radar data and air traffic control software logic.” [9/11 Commission Report, pg 460, Note 130]:

Now that is fairly simple ,but a lot more people got in on the act which has served (Ho Ho) to confuse the issue - identified by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross of 9/11 Scholars for Truth in Seismic Proof 9/11 Was An Inside Job posted November 12th, 2006 at RINF


So you can click the link and read the fine print about the time differences and how they were ...er...well..re-aligned.

WTF ?

So there are time differences, maybe the time differences can be explained - well no-one has yet found an explanation why a plane (albeit a big one travelling fast) in mid air 14 seconds out of crashing into the WTC sets the jiggling pens to work on the streaming paper at Columbia University. Premonition ?

But of course there is more. William Rodriguez had just arrived at work at 8.30 am that day and not 8.00 as he had done for 20 years - he was the last man to leave the building and an acknowledged hero that day. By being late he missed having breakfast with his friends in the Windows on the World Restaurant on the 106th floor. - it also meant he was in the basement when as he was discussing the day’s tasks with others, there was a very loud massive explosion which seemed to emanate from between sub-basement B2 and B3.

The cement walls in the office cracked from the explosion.

“When I heard the sound of the explosion, the floor beneath my feet vibrated, the walls started cracking and everything started shaking.”

said Rodriguez, who was crowded together with fourteen other people in the windowless subterranean maintenance office .

Seconds later seconds there was another explosion way above which made the building oscillate momentarily.

Felipe David crashed into the maintenance office. “He had been standing in front of the freight elevator on sub-level 1 about 400 feet from the office when fire burst out of the elevator shaft, causing his terrible injuries.” The skin on his face had been peeled away by the heat of the blast and he was horribly burned on thirty-three percent of his body. “He was burned so badly from the basement explosion that flesh was hanging from his face and both arms.”

William asks:

“How could a jetliner hit 90 floors above and burn a man’s arms and face to a crisp in the basement below within seconds of impact?”

William spent hours testifying behind closed doors in front of the 9-11 Commission. His testimony as an eye witness does not appear anywhere in the 576 page report.

William Rodriguez says: “I have tried to tell my story to everybody, but nobody wants to listen. It is very strange what is going on here in supposedly the most democratic country in the world.

Lt. William Walsh NYFD, Jan 11, 2002 also gave testimony - He was explaining hothe short service elevators doors were blown open but not the main Northa dn South elevators were apparently intact

Question: And they were blown off?

Answer: They were blown off the hinges, and you could see the shafts. The elevators on the extreme north side and the other express elevator on the extreme south side, they looked intact to me from what I could see, the doors anyway…….

William Rodriguez also testified that there were sprinklers going off in the basement and not on the upper floors. Also when he got to the lobby, the passenger elevators in the field of view, their doors were popped open sideways like a pyramid, from the bottom up.

The evidence of William Walsh and William Rodriguez shows that there were explosions that affected the basement and lobby levels, and these were not caused by the jet fuel.

CONCLUSION by Craig T. Furlong & Gordon Ross

Several seismic stations recorded seismic signals originating from two events which occurred at the WTC site, immediately prior to both aircraft impacts. Because these signals preceded the impacts there can be no doubt that the seismic signals recorded were not those associated with the aircraft impacts on the Towers. These signals were in fact the seismic spikes associated with the huge basement explosions reported by witnesses.

They continue from this inescapable scientific fact ....

The inescapable conclusions drawn from this analysis and the facts contained herein, cast extreme doubt on the government’s claim that these attacks were carried out solely by Middle Eastern terrorists, who would not have had the ability or opportunity to plant the explosive devices, nor to detonate them so as to be masked and partially hidden by the aircraft impacts. The real perpetrators, those who actually did plant these devices, clearly had free access to the Towers.

Of particular interest is the testimony of William Rodriguez not mentioned by Furlong and Ross. He had struggled with the first arriving firemen to ascend the tower at the 33rd floor they stopped at a maintenance office to get some face filters....

"Strangely, while William was on the 33rd floor he heard lots of very loud noise as if someone was moving heavy equipment and furniture around on the 34th floor. The reason this is interesting is that the 34th floor was empty. Elevators did not stop at the 34th floor. It was off limits due to a construction project. The new security chief, John O’Neill had his new office on this floor. William said that this was the first time that he felt fear."


John O'Neill is the maverick FBI agent who had recently resigned (see pic at head of post) ( whose involvement with Able Danger is still unclear and probably will never be fully known) and taken up the security post at WTC - this is one description of his final hours alive.



"O'Neill is in his 34th floor office in the North Tower at 8:46 a.m. when American Airlines Flight 11 crashes into it. Among others, O'Neill calls Valerie James once he is outside the building. He asks her what hit the building and tells her,

"Val, it's horrible. There are body parts everywhere." A few seconds later he tells her, "Okay, I'll call you in a little bit."

O'Neill also sends a text message to Fran Townsend to report that he is okay.

In the minutes after the attack, O'Neill makes his way to the command center that had been set up. There he sees FBI agent Wesley Wong. Wong would tell Esquire magazine later,

"He was in FBI mode. Then he turned and kind of looked at me and went toward the interior of the complex. From the time John walked away to the time the building collapsed was certainly not more than a half hour or 20 minutes."

Wong is the last person to see him alive.

Consume ! Save the world.

This ad appears in the TESCO Christmas magazine. Why doesn't mum use woven cotton nappies, soak and wash like her mum did, instead of loading landfill in the UK with 8 Million un-biodgradeable shit filled nappies every day ?

...and hasten baby being potty trained within 2 years rather than being seduced by Proctor & Gamble etc., into buying these technological marvels for years, helping to exhaust lord knows what natural resources.

There is also an ad from Oz winemakers Banrock Station, buy their plonk and help the Eden Project clog the lanes of Cornwall with cars under the pretext they are saving the planet's biodiversity - which botanic gardens worldwide have been doing for centuries.

Rumsfeld et. al. case lodged in Germany

The New York-based civil rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a criminal complaint against ex Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday at the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The previous attempt to bring Rumsfeld and others to justice in 2004 under the Criminal Code of Crimes Against International Law (CCIL) was dropped in February 2005 on the eve of a visit by Rumsfeld to Germany for the Munich Conference on Security Policy. Kay Nehm, then the federal prosecutor claimed that Rumsfeld could be prosecuted in his own country and said.." that there were no indications that the US authorities and courts of the United States of America are refraining, or would refrain,from penal measures as regards the violations described in the complaint.” In 4 years Nehm did not take up a single case under the CCIL.

This new charge sheet has a greater chance of suceeding claims Berlin attorney Wolfgang Kaleck because ;

1. Rumsfeld is no longer able to hide behind his role as an employee of a sovereign power.
2.Monika Harms, who took office earlier this year as the federal prosecutor, may be more amenable to their cause.
3. New evidence such as documents from the 2005 Congressional hearings on the al-Qahtani case and the role of various people in producing the "torture memos".
4. Janis Karpinski the former commander of Abu Ghraib, will appear as a witness.
5. A different and much changed political situation.

CCR President Michael Ratner said on launching this action

“The recently passed Military Commissions Act, which purports to amnesty the alleged war crimes of U.S. officials, is only the most recent illustration of American unwillingness to prosecute Americans. These crimes are not the work of ‘a few bad apples;’ they were planned and executed at the highest levels of the U.S. government.”

In the original action Hannes Honecker, an attorney for the Republican Attorneys' Association (RAV) in Berlin, which represents CCR in Germany said his group agreed to help with CCR's case because it shared the organization's fundamental belief that serious crimes had been committed at Abu Ghraib.

"I fear that the rule of law will perish if we don't further pursue this and that Abu Ghraib will at some point take on significance in our cultural history -- namely that people don't give a damn about law as long as they are in power. This situation is undemocratic, it disregards human rights, it's intolerable and I'm afraid it will become standard if we do not take legal action against it."

.Janis Karpinski who toured the US with Craig Murray earlier this year , resigned from the army in July 2005. She is anxious to reveal the incidents that ended her army career. "I served for 28 years," Karpinski told the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel. "I was entirely committed to the army. Then they make me into a scapegoat."

The case cannot be brought (like the Yugoslav defendents) to the International Criminal Court in The Hague because the US is not a member and will not recognise it. The UN route would be immediately subject to (at least) the US power of veto.

These documents are available (PDF alerts)
1. Introduction in English which makes compelling reading 14 pages

2/3 The Full complaint in German only (so far) 2 parts Part 1 784K Part 2 659K

4. Press Release from Wofgang Kaleck's office (German) - wonderful logo / theme

5. Joint Press release CCC/RAV/ etc.,

It is essential that as much publicity is afforded world wide to this case - please help by circulating, posting, linking information wherever and whenever possible. The next step is Bush and Balir up on war crimes charges.

The Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership and the Economic Apocalypse (SKIL) Bill (S. 2691| H.R. 5744)

The TechNet Innovation Summit will be held tomorrow at Stanford University. Founded in 1997 the annual Summit is a techie hoopla event to boost the view that -- what's good for technology is good for the nation and vice versa.

Fresh back from Moscow and a one to one with President Putin ,Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, is expected to explain why high-tech and biotech firms want the ability to hire more skilled workers from abroad under the H-1B visa program - his talk is entitled "The Global Knowledge Economy: Keeping our Competitive Edge"

Compete America "The Alliance for a Competitive Workforce" Their website claims to promote the belief that it is fundamental to the US economic interest to provide ..a secure and efficient immigration system that welcomes highly educated and talented profesionals to our nation.

They have sent a letter today to Congress representing over 200 companies and academic institutions ...

"The undersigned organizations urgently request your support to ensure that U.S. businesses and universities have continued access to necessary talent, and for the U.S. to remain the world’s innovation leader. We urge Congress to pass the provisions that would relieve the drastic H-1B and EB green card problems before adjournment."

"We have widespread support for the provisions we're pushing, but they've been caught up in the broader immigration debate this year," said Lynn Shotwell, chairwoman of Compete America.

These are some of the member companies of the Steering Committtee of Compete America.
American Hospital Association, EDS, Electronic Industries Alliance, Hewlett-Packard Company,
Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Motorola Inc.,Oracle Corporation, QUALCOMM Inc..
Sun Microsystems Inc.,Texas Instruments Incorporated, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

For the Compete America education / Factsheets etc on The Securing Knowledge Innovation and Leadership (SKIL) Bill (S. 2691| H.R. 5744) go here.

I (ran) spies with my little eye

Iran's state television reported that a drone belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) had managed to spy on the US aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf waters in August 2006. This 4 minute 21 second video was shown on Iran State TV on November 12th 2006 and posted on Google Video by The Iran Military Forum (1149 views to date)

There is a lengthy discussion at Confederate Yankee about the authenticity of the video, all of whom seem to overlook the fillum is claimed to have been made in August 2006 not this week.

There are reports that Russian military sources are sceptical about it's authenticity. No reasons are given.

Carter Fuck - Legal sharks infesting the Internet

In September Kate @ Kate a Blog posted a fascinating story about Mr Nadhmi Auchi نظمي أوجي. (see pic)
Which gave a brief introductory biography of this fascinating man.

Mr Auchi is the 7th richest man in Britain; having made his billionaire fortune in banking, pharmaceuticals, oil, hotels, aviation, real estate, telecommunications, etc. He has brokered deals for Italian frigates and Iraqi pipelines, oil-for-food, built grand hotels in London, Beruit, Kuwait. His assorted fortune is under the company General Mediterranean Holding.

NOTE - Past and present directors of General Mediterranean include ex UK Foreign Office minister Keith Vaz, former Liberal leader Lord Steel, former president of the European commission Jacques Santer and former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont.

Accumulation of such wealth does not come without problems ......

In November 2003 Mr Auchi was given a 15-month suspended sentence and fined £1.4m by a French court for receiving illegal commissions which was contemporaneously reported by the Guradian on May 7th 2003.

Yesterday Mr Auchi explained to a court how his company, General Mediterranean Holdings, was paid more than 3bn pesetas in commission for buying the Spanish Ertoil refinery for the French oil giant in 1991.

Which ( to someone not familiar with this sort of business transaction) seems quite straighforward. Indeed it was, as he went on to explain to the court.

Sweating profusely in the heat of the packed courtroom at the Palais de Justice he confirmed that his company received the money and, more extraordinarily, that 1.4bn pesetas was paid back to Elf, or rather to the senior executives who had set up the deal.

Which is perhaps a little less straightforward ...

This massive retro-commission, more commonly known as a kickback, first found its way into the bank account of Alfred Sirven, then Elf's head of special operations, and was then distributed in chunks to various other executives, including the company's president, Loik le Flock-Prigent.

Both Sirven and Le Flock-Prigent have already received prison sentences for their roles in the Elf affair.

At which point Iraqi born Mr Auchi displayed a dgeree of Francophilia that was unexpected ... but no doubt welcome both in the banlieus of Paris but also the Quai D'orsay. Indeed readers of the French Wikipedia will be interested on their article on Kassem "Il fut la victime d'un attentat manqué à la mitraillette par deux jeunes révolutionnaires anonymes devenus célèbres: le dictateur déchu Saddam Hussein et le milliardaire anglo-irakien Nadhmi Auchi."

Constantly mopping his brow with his handkerchief, Auchi stated that he was told by Elf representatives that the deal would be "good for Elf and good for France".

Alas ! His strength of belief in the French nation was not matched by an adequate understanding of their business practices .. evidently unfamiliar to anyone brought up in the banking parlours of the Middle East renowned for their rectitude and probity see BCCC, Petra Bank / Mr Chalabi - another fascinating Iraqi banquiste etc.,.

Asked by the president of the court, Michel Desplan, whether he thought it strange that Elf would pay him more than 3bn pesetas in commission but that 1.4bn had to be paid back to the company, Mr Auchi said that he had been dealing with a French state company and so he assumed everything was above board.

... and so say all of us.

(Mr Auchi is appealing the verdict after a lengthy trial .)

Those who want a detailed history of this evidently credulous businessman could usefully consult an article that appeared at Corp watch just prior to the trial.

IRAQ: British tycoon in quiz over ties to Labour
by Martin Bright, Antony Barnett and Mark Hollingsworth, The Observer
April 6th, 2003

Or Guradian / Observer article The politics of sleaze by Nick Cohen Sunday November 16, 2003

Anyway as a result of Kate's posting she now tells us of a letter she has received by e-mail from the celebrated firm of Carter Fuck, which claims much scandalum magnatum about their client Mr Auchi . The letter which they claim is "Not for Publication" and is "Private & Confidential" claims inter alia about Kate's posting.. "it contains various false statements and assertions " the most amusing of which is that Kate posted a picture of Mr Saddam Hussein incorrectly attributed to be a portrait of their client.

It is well known throughout the world that Mr Hussein has been in custody for 3 years and is facing the shuffling off of his mortal coil at the hands of the US aggressor and their victor's laws. It might therefore seem unlikely that anyone is going to mistake Mr Auchi should he be approached in a Baghdad coffee shop to launder some grubby money, sell (or buy) an Italian destroyer or even invest in a mobile telephone company.

This entertaining letter goes on to say that Mr Auchi does not take kickbacks ( it is difficult to see how this fiction can be maintained when he evidently told the court in the Elf case he did not recognise a kickback when he paid one).

It maintains he has never laundered money, is not related to, know, have dealings with, ridden on the same bus, as Mr Hussein the brutal dictator, (overlooking it appears his well known and documented involvement with Mr Hussein in the attempt on President Kassem's life). Such is the concern (not to mention the vanity) of Mr Auchi he maintains that he does not even look like Mr Hussein - and looking at the pictures of them, any confusion would be the result of either bad lighting, or bad eyesight.

Consequently they seek (on behalf of their client) a published apology in terms and form to be agreed to inform readers of Kate's blog of the true position... Which considering he has been found guilty of paying massive kickbacks is a trifle rich. But then Carter Fuck have never been backward in making the most preposterous claims on behalf of their clients.

Finally they add as some sort of endorsement of this nonsense examples of such apologies from The Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday.

My advice to Kate is to tell both Messrs Carter Fuck and Mr Auchi to Fuck off.

PS. This has NOTHING ... absolutely NOTHING to do with the arrest of Mr Auchi's daughter Luma Auchi, and MD of Regent-GM Laboratories Limited, arrested in the NHS drug fraud case involving up to £150 million excess costs to the NHS. She is one of 12 executive / Directors from UK drug firms who face fraud charges in allegations of £100m price-fixing of commonly used NHS drugs, evidence from insiders includes board minutes detailing agreements.

The 9 defendents appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court on 27 April, 2006 when the companies are also required to be represented.Regent-GM Laboratories Limited were not charged because the company is in liquidation. Regent -GM Laboratories Limited, which was wound up in 2004, was a UK subsidiary of Mr Auchi's Luxembourg based General Mediterranean business empire.BBC Online

To date UK firm Generics (£12m ) and India's Ranbaxy (£4.5m) were joined in April 2006 by US based Norton (part of IVAX) who paid a total of £13.5m compensation and all deny any liability.

Regent GM has a star studded board which included former Tory health minister Gerry Malone, who joined the board in 1999 and the fragrant Baroness Falkender, Harold Wilson's long-standing (very) private secretary, who sat on the board of Regent from 1996 to 2003.

It is not known if they were at all familiar or friendly with former Regent sales and marketing manager Bhupesh Patel who had been acting as a secret whistleblower, helping the NHS and later Serious Fraud Office with their investigations. Evidence provided by Mr Patel, who is said by the NHS to have been present at alleged cartel meetings, is believed to be central to the case that has been built against the nine executives so far charged.

To people interested in these matters it may be of interest that whilst Norton was not colluding on price fixing it was run by CE and Labour donor (at least £100K to Millbank and £10K to Frank Dobson's London Mayor campaign - Dobson is, of course, a former Secretary of State for Health who ordered NHS doctors to use generics wherever possible.) Isaac Kaye, and the chairman of Generics was Mr T Tabatznik who left the board in 1999, has also given Labour donations. There is absolutely no evidence whatever to suggest either Mr Kaye or Mr Tony Tabatznik were involved in price-fixing.

Mr T T is of course non-domiciled and therefore enjoys certain income tax benefits, his north London (St Johns Wood) mansion is owned by a Panamaniam company.... he is also a generous benefactor to the London Science Museum Darwin centre.Director of the Oxford Institute for Yiddish Studies

Straws in the wind - 35

Skilled workers, anxious to emigrate to the US can apply for an H1-B visa. The law requires US employers to hire Americans first, but many companies now are happy to ;

1 Hire an immigrant with an H1-B because they will work for much less than "native" US citizens.

2 Employ staff overseas - India, Russia. (Bill Gates was in Moscow meeting Mr Putin last week)

The result is to squeeze both the market for skilled US workers and to depress wages. This is especially the case amongst software designers, coders, and ancillary skills.

AS a result the forthcoming The Cornyn-Shadegg SKIL Bill which has been attached to the end of session (and unstoppable) omnibus appropriations bill after the elections. Opponents calim that 1.5 million underpaid H-1B workers will enter the U.S. by the year 2013 ?

From 115,000 visas in 2007, the allocation will steadily rise to 343,388 in 2013 - a total of 1,485,329.

The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has launched a campaign quoting a study from The Bureau of Labor Statistics that estimates the number of new computing and engineering workers needed by the US economy over the decade at 1.25 million.

Whilst this is a projection of the effect of H1-B workers, the Detroit News reported the use of people in the area by major employers in Michigan. (Source : 2005 Labor Condition Application filings, company websites, 2005 and 2006 SEC filings) For example ;

Syntel Inc. Troy have 79% of their 1,422 US based workers on visa, and state that they take home US$12,336 less than the industry average. Local clients include, GM, Ford and Daimler/Chrysler.

Civansys Corp,Farmington Hills have 67% of their staff in India Henry Ford Health System, Ford, Visteon Controls and GM are its largest local clients.

Satyam Computer Services Ltd., Hyderabad, India: A consulting, contracting and staffing firm that offers wages $15,235 below industry average.

Ved Software Services Inc., Farmington Hills: An outsourcing and staffing firm that offers H1-B wages $23,984 below industry average. Amway Corp., DaimlerChrysler and Kelly Services are its
largest local clients.

Michigan-based Syntel Inc. and Indian-based Infosys Technologies Ltd. complain in their annual SEC filings that the cap on visas is hindering their ability to increase profits.

Syntel – A New Breed of Offshore - Business Efficiency Provider

Syntel helps its Global 2000 customers remain at the forefront of their industries with innovative uses of technology to operate their businesses more efficiently. We deliver flexible, custom Information Technology and Business Process outsourcing solutions that improve quality and reduce costs. More than any other company, we explore, develop and adapt new, better ways to do this.

Syntel on their website boast of their notable partners (all publicly quoted companies in the US with shareholders who want a rising share price and rising dividends) - Ab Initio, Actuate, BEA Systems, Borland, Business Objects, Citrix, Cognos, IBM, Identify Software , Informatica, Mainframe Migration Alliance, Mercury Interactive, Microsoft, MicroStrategy, Oracle, Serden Technologies, Sun Microsystems, TIBCO, Vianeta Communications. Read about them here and what Syntel do for them.

It would be folly to think that this demand for qualified skilled staff was not a result of the collapse of the public school system in the US - especially for training mathematicians, chemists, engineers. It would be folly to fail to acknowledge that the solution simply lies in stealing the people from the third world.

America is getting richer , it's just the people who are getting poorer -

Dupont, the chemical giant, recently slashed employee pension benefits by two-thirds. Employees hired on or after Jan. 1, 2007, will not be eligible to participate in DuPont's pension plan and will not receive a company subsidy for retiree health care or retiree life insurance. Verizon , NCR, IBM, Tenneco, Sears have all recently cut or frozen pension entitlements.

Sidestep Google censor

Here is a useful site if you wish to, say archive for Fair Use a You Tube / Google video - Video Downloader . This utility (also available with Mozilla download for one button operation) operates with over sixty sites and is growing daily.,,, and it's easy peasy.

Enables downloads of daily episodes - eg Simpsons and something called Pornotube - it says here.

This would have been useful for the Camp Falcon firestorm video which mysteriously disappeared from Google Video.

This utility is FREE but anyone who isn't a Grinch would use Pay Pal and bung them a few sovs.

Ginger Wanker and the Fish Slice Mystery

Straws in the wind - 21

Wal-Mart announced that its same store sales increased 0.5% in October, the smallest gain in six years.Flagship Wal-Mart stores showed a 0.3 % and Sam’s Club warehouses a 2.0 %t gain.

Wal-Mart estimated that same-stores sales should be unchanged in November from a year ago.

7/7 More questions without sensible answers

Lord Patel has just discovered a video "London Bombings" (11 mins) by "indi films" about the 7/7 bombings has had 774 viewings since posting on Google Video on July 27th 2006.

This raises question about Peter Power and his Visor Consultants ( Full Radio 5 Interview which is fascinating) - role of Kingstar the demolition men, whose van was handy for the Number 30 Bus (the only one in London re-routed that day) when something happened to it in Tavistock Square. Is he just a shameless self-publicist or something more sinister ? There is also a video on You tube of a BBC TV interview with Peter Powers here posted by luogocomune in the US.

The question of Israeli / Mossad conections is discussed - the far sighted writings of ex head of Mossad Halevi (old school pal of Lord Levy at Hackney Downs) in the Jerusalem Post, the French view that military explosives were used, Netanyahu's warning .... worth 11 minutes of your time.

Meanwhile the curiously anonymously authored "Ludicrous Diversions" on the same topic has had 72,036 viewings to date... and is well worth a visit.

Link - Peter Powers interview discussed at Prison Planet July 13th and also at Guerilla News Network and a different take on it at Wag News (something very fishy)

Link - BBC Online review of this extrordinary man,Peter Powers, "Pied Piper" of the Kings X fire.

Eretz Israel

Two powerful women were lucky enough to be invited to speak to the AIPAC Policy Conference in May 2005 ....

Secretary Condoleezza Rice

Let me begin by saying that Israel has no greater friend and no stronger supporter than the United States of America. (Applause.) For over half a century, AIPAC has strengthened the religious, cultural and political bonds that unite our two great nations, and I thank you for that. (Applause.)

WASHINGTON, May 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee at their 2005 Policy Conference last night. Pelosi discussed the relationship between the United States and Israel and the continued effort for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

"The people of Israel long for peace and are willing to make the sacrifices to achieve it. We hope that peace and security come soon - and that this moment of opportunity is not lost. As Israel continues to take risks for peace, she will have no friend more steadfast that the United States.

"In the words of Isaiah, we will make ourselves to Israel 'as hiding places from the winds and shelters from the tempests; as rivers of water in dry places; as shadows of a great rock in a weary land.'

"The United States will stand with Israel now and forever. Now and forever."

...and impeachment has been taken "off the table".

So it looks as though the US really voted for a change in Foreign Policy this week.