Northern Wreck try to gag the Press, Comment, and knowledge of their Memorandum of Sale.

On Tuesday we reported that FT Alphaville had posted the memorandum sent to potential purchasers of Northern Wreck.

As a result of this posting the High Court ruled at around at around 6.50pm on Tuesday 14th for Northern Rock Directors, that the FT are injuncted against revealing the contents of this memorandum. This temporary injunction runs until Tuesday when full evidence in the case will be heard.

Initially Northern Rock sought an injunction which would prevent the whole of the media from reporting anything about the sale memorandum.

Northern Rock wanted the injunction to prevent publication of the names of those who had been provided with the sale memorandum, notwithstanding the fact that names of potential bidders have already been widely published.

Northern Rock also sought an order that would have prevented disclosure of the fact that it had obtained an injunction. The FT resisted this and the order was refused.

Northern Rock intended that an injunction should be obtained anonymously, but this was also unsuccessful.

In view of the fact that the hearing went on so late, the judge granted a temporary injunction lasting seven days in order to preserve the position until he could hear full evidence. The FT argued that there was a substantial public interest in the story and that it was extremely important that shareholders were entitled to know where they stand. The Judge took the view that at an emergency hearing he would give priority to the fact that the sale memorandum contained a written confidentiality undertaking entered into by the original recipients of the document, and that he would protect this pending a full hearing of all the evidence.

Northern Wreck published the following on their website...

NORTHERN ROCK ANNOUNCEMENT

Northern Rock Plc (the “Company”) announces that it is aware that a confidential memorandum sent to parties with a potential interest in all or part of the Company under strict confidentiality obligations has unfortunately been leaked to a newspaper group. The memorandum appeared on a website controlled by that group.In order to protect the integrity of the information which has been provided to potential purchasers and to help ensure it can implement its strategic review in a way designed to achieve the best outcome for the Company and its stakeholders, including shareholders, creditors, customers and employees, the Company has obtained an injunction restricting publication of the information contained in the memorandum.

The Company believes that further speculative reporting based on the illustrative information in the memorandum may jeopardise the complex discussions and negotiations taking place in connection with its strategic review.It has been reported that the memorandum included certain illustrative transaction structures and financial information prepared in connection with the Company’s strategic review.

As was made clear by the memorandum the financial information was prepared solely to illustrate the potential financial impact of these transaction structures on the Company’s business.None of the information reported as being in the memorandum should be viewed as guidance to the market as to future outcomes of the strategic review or as an accurate representation of future results.

The memorandum was not prepared with a view to public disclosure or in compliance with rules, guidelines or policies relating to public disclosure.Announcements regarding the outcome of the strategic review will be made as and when appropriate and any information that is material will be published at that time. There can be no certainty that the discussions taking place with interested parties will lead to an offer for the Company or for all or any part of its business.

The Company confirms that the existing deposit guarantee arrangements announced by HM Treasury and the revised facilities agreed with the Bank of England announced on 9 October 2007 remain in place.

Lord Patel has copies of the memorandum and will shortly post them. The significant parts were dealt with in the post on Tuesday. However the whole thing is available we now discover as a pdf file at http://www.banks-implode.com/NR-Secret-Memo.pdf

If you are still foolish enough to own shares, get rid.... Now at all time low of 133p.

The behaviour of the Directors of NR , the BOE, Darling FSA is outrageous and in many respects criminal . The market in NR shares is totally false and dishonest.

Janet Paraskeva - Common Purpose graduate and guru gets new public appointment under Peter Hain

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Peter Hain,the man with the tan from the can , excitedly announced the appointment today of the unlovely , square jawerd, granite faced, Janet Paraskeva as Chair Designate of the new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission. Her appointment, which is for 4 years, will take effect from 19 November 2007.

Janet Paraskeva brings extensive experience to this role from her time as Chief Executive of The Law Society, Director of the National Lottery Charities Board and as Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency. She is currently the First Civil Service Commissioner.

She has also been one of HM Inspectors of Education and a member of the Youth Justice Board, a magistrate and a Childline council member as well as the Director of the National Youth Bureau.

The appointment has been made in full conformity with the Code of Practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees' political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Janet Paraskeva has declared no political activity. ......

Janet Paraskeva,she is also a publicly self declared lesbian and is also a Common Purpose graduate and is a non executive Director of the Serious Organised Crime Agency along with Sir Roger Wheeler who is a Director of the mercenary quasi MOD outfit Aegis who are well set up to provide the couple of battalionas that OAP Lady Jane Dame Pauline Neville Jones thinks should be on hand to quell public disorder.

Northern Rock - a Turd by any other name

FT Alphaville have posted the "confidential details " of the BOE memorandum about the sale of Northern Wreck (Codename "Blackbird" AKA Turdus merulus of the Family Turdidae - someone at the BOE with a keen sense of ornithological humour ?)) for prospective buyers.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/11/13/8870/project-wing-the-northern-rock-briefing-memorandum/

The document is curious - it says the Wreck expects to have a credit line of £24bn from the taxpayer (AKA BOE) as at 1/1/08 - although by most people's reckoning it stands at £30Bn. today.

The loan rate and other terms, length, termination triggers etc., are not available but ..."any potential purchaser/investor... will need to have discussions with the Bank of England and its advisers before concluding any proposal."


The business is unsaleable without this loan and this is tacitly accepted - in 2010 the Rock will require at least £6bn from ..er..." a Replacement Facility"

3 outlines scenarios are given ... all demanding BOE support and evidence that they just want this mess off the doorstep of Threadneedle Street.

• sale of the whole company; (In two words Im Possible, you could not GIVE the company away)

• sale of the basic physical infrastructure of the business, viz. the branches, IT and call centre, - the loans from the remaining stupid, short siighted retail lenders who haven't even now moved their funds to higher and safer ground.

• sale of above plus those securitised mortgages, and a "run off" of the rest - in which case the Credit Rating agencies are left withj a problem to rate and this could leave to a "trigger" by which the holders can demand their money back. (The Credit Agencies are remaining remarkably silent re the value of "Granite" etc.,

Anyone who still holds shares is a mug.

Patels swell jail population after massive Tax fraud in Manchester

Seven people were jailed for over 11 years in Liverpool on Monday for their part in a £5.3 million tax fraud involving a North West newsagents/garage chain. Three directors along with six other senior managers and employees of Aleef Garages Limited (also trading as Aleef Newsagents) pleaded guilty to the multi-million pound fraud after a long and complex investigation by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) investigators.

In court, confiscation orders in excess of £5.3 million were made with one to follow.

The 8 men and 1 woman were charged with offences related to Conspiracy to cheat the Revenue contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 and prosecuted by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO). The charges centred on fraudulent accounting related to franchise outlets, suppression of stock purchases and under declaration of takings at the newsagents' shops to the diversion of funds and payments of tax free undeclared wages. Money was distributed using bank accounts opened in the name of a charity but in reality the cash was used to fund private lifestyles and transferred to other personal accounts including some in the Channel Islands. Aleef Garages Limited is a limited company owned by members of a family called Patel, who reside in the Great Lever area of Bolton. The principle trade of the company is/was retail outlets and the business operates a number of garages and newsagents in the North West.

Three sons of the company founder, Mubarak (aged 55), Mustaq (53) and Iqbal (51) as company directors all had an integral role in running the business. The three brothers who pleaded guilty to cheating the Revenue have now been banned as directors for ten years each and have been subjected to confiscation orders totalling £5million plus a contribution to court costs of £500,000.

The main assets for the principal defendants consist of a large property portfolio of garages and newsagent outlets based mainly in Manchester, but also in Bolton and Liverpool. Default sentences totalling a further 15 years have been imposed on the three directors that will be served if they fail to pay the orders within a set timetable laid down by the court. Five of their co-conspirators also had confiscation orders added to their sentences yesterday and the sixth faces a confiscation hearing in approximately one month.

The six other employees who were sentenced for their part in the fraud are Hanif Patel (46), Usman Patel (45), Ibrahim Vali Patel (55), Nichole Patel (34), Inayat Patel (34) (all unrelated) and Javeed Bashir (48). All reside in the same Bolton area.

This has nothing to do with the Postman. (No relation)

Andrey Kashechkin cycle doping case threatens all sports drug testing if successful - he has Bosman's lawyer acting for him.

Belgian lawyer Luc Misson, who co-defended Jean-Marc Bosman when the former Belgian footballer successfully sued his club at the European Court of Justice in 1995 over "restraint of trade", is acting for Kazakh cyclist Andrey Kashechkin, a former member of the Astana team which also featured compatriot Alexandre Vinokourov, tested positive for homologous blood doping in August and now risks a four-year ban. (see post July 25th http://postmanpatel.blogspot.com/2007/07/dope-has-killed-cycling-what-next.htmlKashechkin denies he used his own blood to enhance his performance, and claims that legal procedures during his control were not followed correctly by International Cycling Union (UCI) officials.

Misson expects to win a case on the belief that "privately-run" sports bodies such as the UCI and the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) have no legitimate right to test athletes.
The Belgian lawyer says such procedures contravene Europe's declaration of Human Rights, and that only public bodies, such as governments, have the right to carry out such procedures.

"We denounce the fact that these procedures (dope testing) and sanctions can be carried out by privately-run bodies," said Misson, who is using articles 6, 8 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights as a main tenet of his argument.

"To proceed to harm the fundamental rights of any individual is a right held exclusively by public bodies, and within the strict framework of the law."

Kashechkin was on holiday in Belek, Turkey with his family on August 1 when Belgian officials submitted him to a blood test late at night.

This tested positive for homologous blood doping, which means he injected his own blood to boost his performance - and if upheld means a four-year ban from the sport.

According to the Kashechkin camp the Belgian officials who collected blood samples from Kashechkin did so outside the permitted time limit of 0600 - 2200 . The officials reportedly took the samples at 2245 local time.

Misson also says that analysis of the rider's B sample, carried out 22 days later and which would validate any sanction, was not carried out within the UCI's own regulatory time limits.

Cycling's world ruling body, which is a legal entity in Switzerland where it is based, contests the competence of the court, and the fact that "a Belgian court is being asked to rule on the case of a Kazakh who lives in Monaco".

The UCI is being given full support from the respective bodies that represent the riders and the teams in cycling.

Professional cycling meanwhile is already fearing the ramifications of such a decision, and the IPCT's Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont fears the worst.

"If Kashechkin wins on the principle that only States (as opposed to private bodies) are legally allowed to carry out doping controls and hand down sanctions, then we might as well all walk away from professional sport," he said.

"The teams find it essential to be part of this procedure because it cannot accept the principle that the anti-doping fight would be the monopoly of public authorities. It would have immediate and disastrous consequences," IPCT lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont said.

Kashechkin finished third in this year's Dauphine Libere race (see pic above). He was fourth in the 13th stage of the Tour de France. The Astana team left the Tour after Alexandre Vinokourov, a race favorite, tested positive for a blood transfusion following his victory in a time trial.

A decision from the Belgian court is expected within two weeks.

President Sarkozy's Harem hits Washington

Mr. Sarkozy arrived in Washington last Tuesday with some of the women who reflect the diversity of his cabinet: Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, a former chairwoman of the Chicago-based law firm Baker & McKenzie; Justice Minister Rachida Dati, who has a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother; and Rama Yade, (Ramatoulaye Yade-Zimet ) his 31-year-old Senegalese-born and Muslim subminister of foreign affairs and human rights. Mr. Sarkozy refers to her as his "Condi Rice."

She is married to the socialist militant and diplomat, Joseph Zimet, who is the son of the famous Yiddish singer Ben Zimet - who has recently spent 2 years in Senegal. Ben Zimet is a Canadien citizen of Jewish-Polish stock, a long-time French resident and is resident in Dakar Senegal at present. Apparently Joseph voted for Segolene Royal in the Presidential elections.

President Sarkozy with President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade, in July this year, Rama Yade's dad is a diplomat and her mother a Professor. Her dad was the personal secretary of the socialist president, poet, writer and “immortel” Léopold Sédar Senghor and her mother was a professor of the history of Islam.