Michelle ! Mone !

But what crime has actually been committed? As i said a couple of pages back, if there’s any trail of evidence that they knew it didn’t meet standards and sold it as compliant then yes, but otherwise? Lying isn’t a crime of itself, only in certain places / to certain people – not the press for sure.

it’s crappy procurement practises that are being justified by the emergency, it’s sleazy back channels for mates, it’s profiteering (IDK margins on PPE but 60M out of a 205M deal for basically being a distributor / middle man seems high – I spent 10 years in chemical distribution where there was high tech service value add and we didn’t make anywhere near 30%. It’s corruption, for sure but will anything be done about that – I doubt it.

Didn’t the husband say that the 30% profit was justified because “it was an incredibly high risk procurement contract because if we didn’t deliver the goods we didn’t get paid”. Unlike other procurement contracts where you get given some money and it’s up to you whether you want to actually supply anything…

Some truth in that ^

It’s one of those where you are being asked to use your contacts to see if you can buy something at a time that everyone else is trying to buy it.  So even if you do want to supply you may invest a lot of time in discussions, travelling to audit factories, whatever, only to finally then be told either there isn’t any to supply to you, it’s been bought by someone else – or alternatively your buyer has managed to get it elsewhere. And all your time and effort gets nothing. Not unusual to be on a kind of ‘retainer’ on these sorts of situations so you still get paid something for the effort you made.

https://x.com/janeygodley/status/1736337826801660223?s=61&t=pnSJCFXhwmotXJb7rRzdEw

I couldn’t watch it all, it just makes me too angry.

That said.

It’s interesting that they have come out of hiding. I think they see that matters are reaching a critical mass and are attempting to control the narrative.

From what I saw they made a big mistake giving this interview. It only served to show them for what they are, spivs that sought to make money at a time of national emergency. When most of us were trying to do the right thing and look after family, friends and neighbours, this filth saw it as a money making opportunity.

They f******* disgust me.

Her husband is being investigated in 3 countries for fraud.

From what I saw they made a big mistake giving this interview.

It was never going to be anything else. All I could think was ‘Slough Pizza Express’

ratherbeintobago
Full Member
From what I saw they made a big mistake giving this interview.

It was never going to be anything else. All I could think was ‘Slough Pizza Express

Yes! I believe the phrase is… Prince Andrew has been in touch to say he thought the interview, went really well.

But what crime has actually been committed?

Various organisations are looking into criminal and civil issues, it’s not really for the likes of us to worry too much.

But what crime has actually been committed?

Probably none, but that’s not really the point here. As a member of the House of Lords you should act with honour and integrity, she falls well short of this and used her position for blatant financial gain. She should be expelled from the House of Lords with immediate affect for outright lying!

“As a member of the House of Lords you should act with honour and integrity”

But whaaaat!!!

Has anyone with a brain in the last decade thought that honours, lordships and the like are anything but a reward for a successful grift?

Literally every honour above maybe MBE,OBE has been give to **** for decades – even sports stuff is totally bollox, Sir Brad, Sir Hoy…Cough cough bollox – sorry but wtaf

But when it gets to the Baroness Scumbag Wartime Profiteer on Bra and yes,  Lord Lobby of Chipping Entitled then it really shows how the only members here are us and its as fully paid up members of District 12

Got to love how she hasn’t attended the Lords for what, years, due to “needing time to clear her name”.

Just hot long does it take to arrange a TV interview?

She’s been in hiding in some very posh mansion in some very posh part of the world, simple as that.

I forgot to mention earlier, another sign that they know things are coming to a head is that they have given up hitting anyone so much as asking them the time of day with the threat of litigation.

Hence the move to attempt to control the narrative as what the investigative journalists have been saying is patently true.

But what crime has actually been committed?

Fraud, false representation, false accounting, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud, bribery….
(all “allegedly” of course – innocent until proven guilty and all that…)

They are right about one thing, they are being used as scapegoats.

they made the mistake of being caught, but it was systematic profiteering during a national crisis, and it was facilitate by the current government.  

don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to defend them – far from it. Absolute abuse of position and privilege but peel back the layers and the real disgrace is the system being set up and abused by those in power that enables it.

Fraud, false representation, false accounting, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud, bribery….(all “allegedly” of course – innocent until proven guilty and all that…)

I do hope so, and I know that there’s some heavyweight investigations, but I suspect they’ll be just the right side of some very shonky laws because that’s how it always goes.

She may be being scapegoated but thats because it was the most blatant fraud. The stuff provided could never be used as it was substandard.

Also aside from £60m profit during a national emergency being ok, the irony of Barrowman saying he pays his taxes, except the money was put into a trust fund, in the Isle of Man. Go figure. I am delighted they did this interview and dug a deeper hole.

Peter Jukes, Bylinetimes and of course the national institution Carol Vorderman are worth checking out on this. Jukes thinks Barrowman has incriminated himself further by decieving Companies Huose by saying he controlled Medpro whilst not being recorded at Companies House. Perfect!

I was skeptical of Keunsberg doing this interview. Maitless or Derbyshire would have skewered them. However they wouldnt have got the gig and Keunsberg let them hang themselves, whilst not saying anything to damage the NCA case. She couldnt mention the question of substandard kit or misrepresentation so just went after profiteering, which isnt a crime.  First time in a long time she has gained my respect.

Hopefully the trust fund tax dodge will come under scrutiny from this.

With the caveat that it may have been very recently edited, her Wikipedia entry and description of her career suggests she’s a consistent liar throughout her rise so this latest episode really isn’t a surprise

Her wiki has been grim reading for a while 

Sir Brad, Sir Hoy…

They are not in the Lords and have no political clout.

They are right about one thing, they are being used as scapegoats.

they made the mistake of being caught, but it was systematic profiteering during a national crisis, and it was facilitate by the current government.

I believe the term used at the time was ‘Chumocracy’…

Mo Mone, Mo problems 🙂

But what crime has actually been committed? 

Hmm, so theotherjonv, which are you?

A – someone who benefitted

B – a right-wing shill

C – a gullible idiot

Maybe it’s my 30 years as an Auditor and a definite struggle I have to see the ‘grey’, but as pointed out above:

Fraud, false representation, false accounting, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud, bribery

Facilitated by a corrupt procurement process – it’s like the stuff I (professionally) encountered in the early 90’s when the Wall came down and Eastern Europe & the USSR turned into the Wild West.

I’m none of them as I hope I’ve made clear. I very much hope that some of the

Fraud, false representation, false accounting, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud, bribery

can be proven, as I said in my post last night that you seem to have ignored before attacking me. But I also suspect or fear that they’ll find a way to be just the right side of the line – which I’m sure you’ll have also encountered as a professional auditor.

In fact that’s where your “definite struggle I have to see the ‘grey’ ” is the issue. We all know it’s bent, but in a binary situation their advisors will be sufficiently skilled to be just legal enough.

She’s a BILF…. A Baroness I’…..

IGMC

At least protection/PPE for the deed shouldn’t be in short supply.

At least protection/PPE for the deed shouldn’t be in short supply.

It may not be easy to aquire, what with being stuck in a warehouse (waiting for disposal).
You may have more luck giving the Jungle SAS manchild a message,he knows bloke in a pub

What can be proven is they are both morally corrupt and lacking any remorse.

With that in mind I would suggest getting booted from the Lords should happen.

I suspect, sadly, that they will manage to stay to the right side of what can be proved legally. Plus they will have the resources and ‘friends in high places’ who will not want the full detail to ever make it into court.

As someone previously involved in setting up some large contracts with Government departments, the endless process and hoops you have to jump through in order to get on contract / draw down funding even as a fully-qualified contractor/supplier. The only people who have the authority to over-ride these rules are Department Under Secretaries and Ministers, so we’re obviously only seeing half the story here and the role of various people in the setting up of the VIP Lane and the circumvention of regular process in order to commit large-scale fraud. Its pretty clear that the likes of Gove, Hancock and other were involved here and they should be as much held to account as they facilitated the fraud.

But what crime has actually been committed?

I’ll be entirely unsurprised to find that everything they’ve done is legal. They still decided to prioritize their greed during a national pandemic, tried to hide their involvement, lied about it, and then thought that it would be a good idea to go on telly to try to explain that they still think they’ve done nothing wrong. Although even other Tories think they’re arseholes, so there’s that I suppose.

Her wiki has been grim reading for a while

Your comment prompted me to have a read. Crikey, it really is grim.

The interview was nauseating. To suggest she was a victim, to say the only thing she did wrong was to lie and to claim they were just trying to do the moral thing and help the country.  You really have to wonder what planet these people are on to think that that sort of chat will help their cause at all.

Plus they will have the resources and ‘friends in high places’ who will not want the full detail to ever make it into court.

It’s Starmer’s job to make sure it does.

As someone previously involved in setting up some large contracts with Government departments, the endless process and hoops you have to jump through in order to get on contract / draw down funding even as a fully-qualified contractor/supplier. The only people who have the authority to over-ride these rules are Department Under Secretaries and Ministers, so we’re obviously only seeing half the story here and the role of various people in the setting up of the VIP Lane and the circumvention of regular process in order to commit large-scale fraud. Its pretty clear that the likes of Gove, Hancock and other were involved here and they should be as much held to account as they facilitated the fraud.

With that in mind, not to absolve them of anything, do you think they are being served up as a conveniently high profile scapegoat?
The only point she made that I halfway agree with was, everyone was doing it, why are we the bad guys? Neither of them benefit from the old school ties that will protect the government, Gove, Harding et al, so their very public skewering will do nicely as a distraction.

At least protection/PPE for the deed shouldn’t be in short supply.

But possibly not fit for purpose….

Her husbands Wiki is not much better. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Barrowman

I’m just listening to it all on Five Live now. I love his statement: “I’m a very private person and thats why I live on the Isle of Man’

Nothing to do with the tax regime there then? I presume thats just a happy coincidence?

How stupid do they think we all are?

The only point she made that I halfway agree with was, everyone was doing it, why are we the bad guys?

I think – even for the Tories – such a blatant “accumulation” of £60m is enough to raise eyebrows. If it had been £6m, they’d probably have applauded her for it but £60m is taking the piss, even by their standards of treachery and corruption.

Dead cert though that if she’d been a Labour peer, they would not be letting this lie, Sunak would be treating it as if all his Christmases had come at once.

Bloody good job she’s not a black woman accused of dodging a train fare, she’d have been hauled violently into jail by a dozen police by now.

With that in mind, not to absolve them of anything, do you think they are being served up as a conveniently high profile scapegoat?

Oh almost certainly, but I think the LK appearance has upped the stakes a bit rather than let it die a death through lack of comment. Will SKS escalate the issue at PMQs now do we reckon?

The only point she made that I halfway agree with was, everyone was doing it, why are we the bad guys? Neither of them benefit from the old school ties that will protect the government, Gove, Harding et al, so their very public skewering will do nicely as a distraction.

It’s an interesting one, I’m sure lots of them were taking advantage of the available opportunities, but the way they each went about it probably differed. JRM will just have nudged his fund managers towards the right investments for example but wouldn’t have been doing anything as grubby as making introductions himself I’m sure.

Gove particularly seems to have been quite conscious of the potential for future embarrassment/scandal. every time he has been questioned on TV/radio he seems to suggest he only ever put his contacts on to the relevant Public procurement people and sought no further influence or advantage (whether that constituted a bit of queue jumping is another question). I reckon he knew how this would eventually play out and was keen to appear as untarnished as possible, perhaps favouring non-financial compensation and/or some owed favours down the line. all speculation.

Those without the guile to turn down an ‘Executive Directorship’ or ‘Consulting fee’, let alone choosing to just spark up their own Ltd Co. deserve to be burnt at the stake.
But I reckon a few of the more slippery members of the Chumocracy will have managed their links to PPE contractors more carefully.

the Fact that Mone had been trying to scare journalists with solicitors letters and says it all.

There will have been lots of journalists digging for the last ~24 months, Mone is potentially the least careful/most clueless tip of a Tory PPE corruption iceberg I reckon…

Tax evasion manual, Chapter 1, paragraph 1.

Follow the money.

Who provided the financial guarantees for the £130+m purchase?  Who then guaranteed the importation tax & duty process..?  in other words, who else was in on this deal… Who handled the funds, taking a cut along the way?

Then, check the pathway for the income itself; whose hands did this pass through to get to the offshore trust..?  Who owns the shares, who stands to gain at every stage of the process..?  What did they spend it on.  the new yacht appears to have been a particularly badly times acquisition, suggesting a destination for some of those funds.  who does own that yacht, anyway?  Where else do the family have substantial assets, property, trusts, shareholdings, investments, collections etc.

Why did the idiot Barrowman reveal the percentage profit they made? They could have been evasive or not answered. Almost comes across as bragging about it!!

You really have to wonder what planet

It’s the planet where you cruise around on your private yacht,having 200 million squid contracts thrown your way.

It will be interesting to what comes of this and what they get dragged into court over,if anything.