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Trial of former French PM begins over alleged
international arms deal kickbacks
19 Jan 2021 14:11
"Karachi affair" on January 19, 2021 at the Court of Justice of the Republic in Paris. © AFP / Alain JOCARD
Former French Prime Minister Édouard Balladur has gone on trial in the Court of Justice of the Republic in Paris, over accusations that he'd financed his 1995 presidential bid with illegal kickbacks from arms deals.
Balladur is appearing before the judicial tribunal charged with complicity in misuse of corporate assets and with concealment over the ‘Karachi Affair.’
The investigation began after a 2002 bombing in Karachi killed 11 French engineers and four others. While it was initially viewed as a terrorist attack, authorities shifted focus, believing it could’ve been revenge for President Jacques Chirac’s decision to halt payments of secret arms-deal commissions.
Balladur, the oldest living former French prime minister, has been accused of approving the payments and of receiving kickbacks totaling 13 million francs (An equivalent of $3.3 million today).
Three ex-government officials have already been found guilty in June in relation to the incident, alongside three others.
The former political leader has rejected claims of illegality, arguing that the millions of francs came from the sale of T-shirts and other campaign memorabilia.
At 91-years-old, it is not yet clear if the former prime minister will appear in court for the duration of the trial, although his lawyer indicated Balladur is open to facing the judges and to answering any questions they have.
British Virgin Islands to be Investigated for Corruption
Published: Tuesday, 19 January 2021 21:22
WRITTEN BY ELI MOSKOWITZ
Long considered one of the world’s most secretive financial jurisdictions, responsible for concealing hundreds of billions in illicit wealth coming in from abroad, the British Virgin Islands is now facing a wide-ranging probe into allegations of corruption within its own institutions and government.
Photo of Jost Van Dyke, one of the main islands in the British Virgin Islands.
(Photo:User:Mattes, CC BY 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons)
An independent inquiry into the British overseas territory, launched on Monday with the support of the United Kingdom, will look into what U.K. Secretary of State Dominic Raab described as a “consistent and deeply troubling array of concerns.”
The allegations of graft include funds to support families during the pandemic being illicitly reallocated, public contracts being awarded without proper bidding, and reports of undue political influence over the appointment of government officials and the criminal justice process.
“There is a lack of transparency related to public funds, particularly related to the COVID-19 economic stimulus support,” said the BVI’s U.K.-appointed Governor Augustus Jaspert in a statement released on Facebook.
News of the forthcoming probe comes against the backdrop of what Jaspert described as an “infiltration of serious organized crime,” which was highlighted in November, when a US$250 million cocaine bust – potentially the largest seizure ever made by U.K. forces – implicated officers of the BVI police.
Governor Jaspert, who notified the U.K. government of the many allegations of corruption against the islands, also said the government has sought to silence officials, media, and community leaders “to such a degree that they describe living in a climate of fear,” according to Raab’s statement.
Local media previously reported that Jaspert had encountered trouble communicating with the public because his office has been given limited access to the government’s website.
“I would like to take a moment to tell the people of BVI that their voices have been heard,” Jaspert said, adding that “those who speak up are too often silenced.”
After a six-month investigation, a commission led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom will produce a report in which the U.K. and BVI will consider recommendations in a “constructive manner that best serves the people of BVI,” the U.K. included in its recent statement.
BVI Premier, Andrew Fahie, said his office “welcomed” a transparent commission of inquiry, and added that as stated by the Governor, “it would only be conducted based on facts and not rumors and unfounded allegations.”
As a British overseas territory, the BVI could have its right to self-government be suspended, as was the case for the Turks and Caicos islands in 2009 after similar complaints were made by its U.K. appointed governor.
BVI has long been heralded as one of the most financially secretive jurisdictions in the world.
Roughly half of the companies exposed by the Panama Papers were registered there, and a separate study by Transparency International uncovered that there were 1,107 BVI companies connected to cases of bribery, rigged procurement, embezzlement, and other financial crimes, amounting to hundreds of billions worth of funds stashed on the islands.
Alex Cobham, Chief Executive of the Tax Justice Network – which ranks the BVI first on its Corporate Tax Haven Index and 9th on the Financial Secrecy Index – wrote on Twitter that the U.K. has the ability “to impose any cleaning up measures necessary to end the corruption and the promotion of illicit flows.”
Even the possibility of such an outcome, he said, “may send a lot of the actors behind illicit financial flows running for another hideout.”
I cannot vouch for the veracity of this article as I have never encountered 'Maduza' before and I have serious doubts about Alexey Navalny's sources. Maduza is associated with the left-leaning 'BuzzFeed News'. Navalny is believed to be associated with western intelligence. Nevertheless, Putin has to do something with his kazillions of rubles, and what could be better than to have corrupt money go right into his palace rather than having to pass through his hands.
Putin’s palace Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation investigates the Russian president’s billion-dollar residence on the Black Sea
9:59 am, January 19, 2021
Source: “A Palace for Putin”
Maduza
Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation has released a bombshell investigation into a $1.35-billion residence built for Russian President Vladimir Putin near a resort town on the Black Sea. Navalny’s team published the report the day after the opposition figure was put in pre-trial detention at Moscow’s notorious Matrosskaya Tishina prison. In addition to sharing the building’s floor plan and visualizations of the interiors, the anti-corruption activists recount the history of the construction project and dig into how it was financed by companies connected to members of Putin’s inner circle. “Meduza” sums up the highlights from the investigation.
Not far from the Black Sea resort town of Gelendzhik, there is a 17,700-square-meter (more than 190,500-square-foot) palace built exclusively for Russian President Vladimir Putin, says a new investigation from Alexey Navalny’s non-profit, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK).
Word about the palace first got out in 2010 — it was revealed by businessman Sergey Kolesnikov, who claimed to have been involved in the building project. Kolesnikov published plans, contracts, and other documents linked to the construction, and said that the project was being overseen by businessman Nikolai Shamalov on behalf of Vladimir Putin. This provoked a major media scandal and a few months later Shamalov sold the property to billionaire businessman Alexander Ponomarenko, who said he planned to finish building the palace as a hotel complex.
However, according to the FBK’s investigation, the sale was a sham — Ponomarenko paid just $350,000 for the palace (a thousand times less than the sum reported in the media) and one of Shamalov’s firms soon took over as the facility’s management company.
The residence is located on a 68-hectare (168-acre) property overlooking the Black Sea. The site of the palace itself includes a helipad, a full-fledged ice palace, a church, an amphitheater, a greenhouse, a 2,500-square-meter (nearly 27,000-square-foot) tea house, as well as an 80-meter (about 260-foot) bridge. A special tunnel was built into the seaside cliff to provide access to the beach, and it also includes a tasting room in the middle with the “best possible view of the sea.”
The palace exterior. This photo was circulated online back in 2011.
Russian Wikileaks / Wikimedia Commons
The 7,000-hectare (nearly 17,300-acre) plot of land adjacent to Putin’s residence belongs to the Russian FSB, though it has been transferred to the firm that owns the palace until 2068. The FBK believes that the “only purpose of the lease is to create some sort of buffer between the palace and Putin.” The anti-corruption activists also discovered that the FSB doesn’t allow fishing on the cape where the palace is built, and that there is an official no-fly zone above the property.
The FBK’s report includes a detailed floor plan of the palace, which they claim to have received from one of the contractors — he handed it over to investigators because he “was stunned and infuriated by the luxurious furnishings.” To verify their authenticity, Navalny’s anti-corruption team compared the plans to photos of the palace’s interiors, which leaked online in 2011.
The palace interior. This photo was circulated online back in 2011.
Russian Wikileaks / Wikimedia Commons
As underscored in the investigation, the entire palace is filled with exclusive pieces of furniture that are made individually by order. For example, the sofas inside the residence cost 1.5–2 million rubles each (that’s about $20,000–$27,000 — and the FBK counted 47 sofas in total); the palace’s most expensive table costs 4.1 million rubles (nearly $56,000).
The palace has three floors and includes (among other things) a pool, saunas, Turkish baths, a spa, a reading room, a music room, a hookah bar, a cinema, a tasting room, a wine cellar, and a casino, as well as more than a dozen guest bedrooms. The master bedroom is 260 square meters (nearly 2,800 square feet).
The FBK also uncovered that not far from the palace there’s 300 hectares (about 740 acres) of vineyards, a chateau, wineries, and oyster farms — according to the investigation, these are also “Putin’s possessions.” The wineries are furnished with luxury items, as well — the FBK points out a coffee table worth 4.3 million rubles (more than $58,000), an Italian toilet brush that costs 62,000 rubles (about $840), and a toilet paper holder valued at 92,000 rubles (nearly $1,250).
“Putin’s Palace. History of the World’s Largest Bribe”
Alexey Navalny
According to the FBK, the construction of the complex was financed by companies linked to Vladimir Putin’s friends — including the state-controlled companies Rosneft and Transneft — with the help of bogus lease payments and other corruption schemes. The anti-corruption activists call this scheme “the world’s largest bribe” and estimate the total amount spent on the palace and the vineyards to be at least 100 billion rubles ($1.35 billion).
Commenting on the investigation, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it a “badly broken record.” “We already explained many years ago that Putin doesn’t have any palaces,” he said.
Swiss probing corruption linked to Lebanon central bank
The Swiss attorney general's office has requested legal assistance from Lebanon in the context of a probe into "aggravated money laundering" and possible embezzlement tied to the Lebanese central bank, Reuters reports from Beirut.
January 19, 2021 - 18:53
Reuters/jc
The probe is looking at money transfers by Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, as well as his brother and assistant. "Both the prime minister and the president are in the loop," a Lebanese government official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Salameh has denied any wrongdoing. The Swiss attorney general’s office confirmed it had requested legal assistance from Lebanon in the context of the probe. But in responding to questions from Reuters, it did not say whether Salameh was a suspect.
The news agency quoted an informed source as saying the Swiss asked Lebanese authorities via the embassy to ask Salameh, his brother and assistant "specific questions" about transfers abroad made in recent years that amount to nearly $350 million.
Lebanon's crippled banking system is at the heart of a financial crisis that erupted in late 2019. Banks have since blocked most transfers abroad and cut access to deposits as dollars grew scarce.
Toronto-area tow company owner hit with charges
in OPP corruption investigation
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Some Greater Toronto Area police officers allegedly gave preferential treatment
to certain towing operators
Publishing date:Jan 19, 2021
Winnipeg Sun
Tow truck hauling a wrecked car away in winter. PHOTO BY GETTY
The owner of a prominent towing company north of Toronto is among those charged in a wide-ranging investigation that also saw the arrest of three OPP officers and the suspension of four others.
Sutheshkumar Sithambarpillay, 52 — also known as Steve Pillai, the owner of Steve’s Towing, in North York — was charged with aiding and abetting breach of trust and secret commissions. He will appear in court on April 16.
Both Sithambarpillay and Steve’s Towing are mainstays on the Discovery Channel series Heavy Rescue: 401, highlighting the efforts of first responders clearing crashes along busy portions of southern Ontario highways.
The investigation began nearly two years ago when the OPP Professional Standards Unit became aware of allegations of GTA provincial police members giving preferential treatment to certain towing operators.
Last week, Const. Mohammed Ali Hussain, 52, of the OPP Toronto detachment, and Const. Simon Bridle, 53, of the 407 Highway Safety Division, were charged with secret commissions and breach of trust. Bridle also faces charges of obtaining sexual services for consideration.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of 57-year-old Bindo Showan, of the 407 Highway Safety Division. The OPP say he is currently out of the province. All three members are suspended with pay.
Four more OPP officers, including two members of the Highway Safety Division, have also been suspended — but not yet charged — as part of the investigation.
A number of Toronto Police officers were suspended over the summer as part of internal investigations probing inappropriate relationships with local towing operators.
Those suspensions came after the arrest of Const. Ronald Joseph, 47, accused of being part of a ‘consortium’ of tow truck drivers charged with being in possession of stolen or illegally cloned police two-way radios, and receiving tips from police about collisions ahead of their competition.
The lucrative collision tow industry in the GTA has been an ongoing source of violence over the years, including arson, assaults, shootings and even murder, as bad operators battle each other for turf.
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