Category Archives: Uncategorized

Taxpayer subsidised Brian Coleman’s hypocritical cheek in berating a single mum

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Brian Coleman: Paying half the rent of the single mum he berated

I don’t want to be seen hounding  Barnet and London Assembly Brian Coleman on this website but his latest outburst takes more than the biscuit. The man who takes £128,000 from the taxpayer in council allowances – he’s probably about the third highest paid councillor now – has recently berated a desperate single mum with a six-year-old son for complaining that she is  facing a £150 a month rent rise to £1100 a month.

 She wrote to him for advice as she said ” out of desperation in the hope that someone can offer me guidance”. Mr Coleman was unsympathetic to say the least. Ms Sharada Osman wrote back surprised at his lack of empathy.

Mr Coleman told her ” I am afraid you have to live in the real world where the country has no money and residents will have to deal with their own issues rather than expecting  ” the system” to sort their lives out.”

What Mr Coleman did not tell her was that he was living in a subsidised  flat, courtesy of the Finchley Methodist Church charity, where he doesn’t even  have the responsibility of painting his windows.

His  rent is £546 a month – half that of Ms Osman. In the real world – the rest of the road-people are paying £1100 a month, according to local estate agents.

Don’t believe me. Well his fair rent agreement is a public document obtainable on-line from the Valuation Office Agency. Search Electronic Rent Register and put in N3 1ND and you can read for yourself and even print your own personal copy.

Then I might suggest – as Mr Coleman seems finally to have got over his technophobia and can use e-mail, send him a e-mail about what you think about it. His work e-mails are

 
 I’ll be interested to see if you get a reply.

The American and British time bombs still under Liam Fox and Adam Werritty

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Together forever?- Adam Werritty and Liam Fox. Pic courtesy:http://www.parker-joseph

When Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell publishes his report this week on whether  former defence secretary Liam Fox broke the rules over his curious working relationship with ” adviser” Adam Werritty, it may not be the end of the matter.  There is still unfinished business across the pond in the US and there could be a kickback in Britain as well.

To use a metaphor that Mr Fox and his friend might be familiar just as  foot soldiers sent into battle in Afghanistan have to be wary of  the explosive danger of hidden IED’s in Helmand, Fox and Werritty are still in the middle of a minefield where one false step could be fatal.

One reason is that  a blogger from Manchester-Stephen Newton who had been pursuing  Fox and Werrity’s  Atlantic Bridge  Neo Con”charity” in Britain for two years – put a formal complaint into  the  US Internal Revenue Service about its sister organisation in America.

Basically the accusation was similar to the British charity whose organisers have just closed down rather than obey charity rules- that  Atlantic Bridge Inc was not a non-profit educational body which should avoid tax.

In a  cryptic reply, the IRS said it would evaluate the information they had received and decide whether to investigate but would not contact him until the investigation was complete. 

Remarkably ( and perhaps Revenue and Customs should do this here) they said that he might qualify for a financial  whistleblower’s award if Atlantic Bridge was found to be tax dodging.

 The IRS has still to inform Newton about his award  but has made it clear it will never discuss what action it is going to take. See his own website http://www.stephennewton.com/  for his  take.

 The signifance of this  is the US operation is totally bound up with the  British one – to the extent that it funded Liam Fox’ s charity and that some of the people thought to have bankrolled Adam Werritty on his trips with the minister may well be connected. On top of this as Sunny Hundal pointed out on the Liberal Conspiracy website last week, (see http://bit.ly/n53Oye ) they include through the American Legislative Exchange Council  links to powerful arms dealers like the Koch Foundation and the tobacco industry. It also backs the Tea Party. And one has only to look at the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Telegraph and the Times to see how extensive these connections are.

Now ,if and it is still if, the IRS acts against Atlantic Bridge Inc, this is only going to intensify the pressure on the people who have been backing Fox and Werritty and set a whole new trail going in the US ( no wonder the blogger has taken calls from the Wall Street Journal).

Meanwhile in Britain the trustees of the Atlantic Bridge charity have closed it down rather than comply with recommendations from  our own Charity Commission to make it less partisan.  the Commission seemed  to think it had to treat Atlantic Bridge with kid gloves. Indeed  unlike the treatment of the Smith Institute – slammed for links with Gordon Brown – it was almost obsequious in its dealings with a body that had five Tory shadow ministers advising it ( though two, Michael Gove and Chris Grayling can’t remember attending – I hope they take their present paid jobs more seriously!)

The Commission gave the charity months to change its rules – despite a decision that it was partisan which would disqualify it for charity status. Adam Werritty at the time objected to the findings-saying he was ” disappointed” by the ruling.

There was also the small question that five Conservative ministers-Liam Fox,George Osborne, William Hague,Michael Gove and Chris Grayling plus John Whittingdale ( current chair of the culture,media and sport committee) were all members of its advisory board of  what  is now known not to be a properly constituted charity.

 If I was a sharp tax inspector at Revenue and Customs I think I might decided to approach  the accountants of prominent donors like  Tory donor Michael Hintze   ( £47,000 in two years according to Atlantic Bridge Accounts) and see whether the donated money qualified for gift aid-saving tax payments by both the donor and the charity. And then I would claim it back.

Atlantic Bridge also charged unbelievable sums to attend its events -£400 a time and £700 for VIPs- to go to a  reception at the Lanesborough Hotel in Hyde Park Corner to see Henry Kissinger get the Thatcher Medal for Freedom. Luckily under gift aid rules, at least the people going could not get a rebate from the tax authorities. No doubt it was these lavish occasions that encouraged Werritty on his high living vists, funded we now know through his private company.

There is an interesting irony about all this – the resignation will enable Fox and his friend Werritty to continue their lobbying. Journalists should keep an eye on the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments website over the next few months to see what lucrative jobs Fox applies for next.

 Just like the Afghan war, this story will run and run.

Exclusive: Westminster pioneers subsidised housing for higher rate taxpayers

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Affordable housing: Now for higher rate taxpayers Pic courtesy BBC

Are you a higher rate taxpayer with a family? Need a three bedroom home convenient for the City and West End but can’t afford the rent charged as oligarchs and Arabs push up prices in Central London?

From next year the Tory flagship council of Westminster is to come to your rescue- they are diverting all their  new  and acquired affordable housing provided by social landlords to help what Ed Miliband, the Labour leader called the “squeezed middle”. This  includes helping  Iain Duncan Smith style Tory households where dad is the sole breadwinner, mum stays at home with the kids, but dad earns enough to put him in the higher tax bracket.

Too bad if you are among the 53 per cent in Westminster earning around £12,500 a year. From next year you are officially too poor to qualify for social housing anymore. You will have to go and live somewhere else.

Don’t believe me. See the table in  new Westminster Council documents, where the figures are revealed.

Table 1: Affordable Rent levelsBeds Sustainable for households (without benefit) with gross incomes*:  Weekly GrossAR range  Current RP rents (including service charges) 
1 £25k-32k(net 18.5k-£23.5k) £135 – £172  £132
2 £27.5-£36k(net £20.5k -£26.6k) £148-£194  £147
3+ £29k-£39k(net £21.5-£29.k) £156-£210  £152+

The  gross householder income figure for three bedroom homes actually exceeds the present 40 per cent tax band which  this year  is £35,001.

Even the document produced by the council’s housing director for  Jonathan Glanz, the Tory Cabinet member in charge of housing admits they might be a problem:

 “It is acknowledged that these rents are not currently affordable to many households with priority, without housing benefit. Income analysis indicates that in the main their incomes are low and significant proportions are benefit dependant.”

An accompanying document adds: “For some larger non working households, Affordable Rent may not be a sustainable housing option given what is currently known about the welfare benefit cap.” In other words The Conservative policy to cap benefits puts the unemployed permanently in the cold.

Even Westminster cannot stomach Grant Shapps 80 per cent market guideline Pic courtesy: Daily Mirror

What is even more amazing is that Westminster is  trying to implement  housing minister Grant Shapps’ plan to make sure housing association charged 80 per cent of market rents. The problem is that market rents are so high in Westminster, that even the Tory flagship authority is having to ignore  the Shapps guidelines. An accompanying document reveals average market rent for a two bed property is now  £564 per week in W1, £440 in the SW1  and £316 in NW8.

Even Westminster realises that to charge over  between £250 and £400 a week would hand over its entire social housing provision to higher rate taxpayers. Good policy for ” we are all in it together” from Mr Shapps. And Westminster’s market rents are lower than neighbouring Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London. Can’t wait for their housing proposals following Mr Shapps lead.

Not surprisingly Labour councillors in Westminster are pretty scathing about this.

Councillor Guthrie McKie, Labour’s Housing Spokesperson said;  “The Council is shifting its housing failures on to the most vulnerable people in our community. Due to its failure to provide sufficient social housing, the Council is doctoring its allocation policy…The Council is hell-bent on turning Westminster into a ‘no go’ area for the poor and low-income families.  These new policies will just add more misery to the lives of thousands of our residents.”

Mr Glanz disagrees: “This attack fails to understand the concept of the new affordable rent model and preys on fears of some of the most vulnerable people. Affordable rent is not a replacement for social housing. It is an entirely separate product for households that are in employment but would otherwise struggle to afford housing at market rents. ”

However this is only half the story. What was Westminster plans to do with its existing council housing is a matter for a further comment.

Exclusive: London fire company former bosses investigated as shares suspended

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John Shannon , ex ceo, high flying and an alleged trail of AssetCo debts

Update: Judges are expected to approve tomorrow( wed july 28)) a deal allowing to dilute shares by 1000 per cent, raise fresh cash from foreign investors and pay off creditors so the company can save its Middle East operations and plan to sell off its London and Lincolnshire fire brigade contracts. Advisers, the current chairman,Tudor Davies, will also get big success fees for pulling this off.

Update:  Trade creditors- from American Express to Grant Thornton – today (Thursday) accepted a 23p in the pound settlement for over £1.5m owed -writing off over £1m debts and AssetCo subsidiaries -including London- accepted a  peanuts settlement (0.1p in £) for the £100m owed -paving the way for first step to save firm from total collapse but also pointing to sale of London and Lincolnshire fire contracts.

An investigation into the  financial dealings of  former bosses  of AssetCo, the private owner of London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines, is underway by the firm, shareholders have been told.

A statement from the company says: “”The Company has recently received details of allegations in respect of the activities of its former management team. The Company is investigating these
claims and following the completion of its investigation may initiate proceedings.”

The disclosures come as shares have been suspended after  the company sought yet another £14m from investors and massively diluted  junk status share price, last traded at a mere 1.75p. The move comes as Bob Neill, the fire minister, will be urging fire authorities across England to privatise their services and hand over their equipment , training and vehicles to  any private company that wants to make a profit from them.

Arcapita, the only bidder for the stricken company, walked after demanding auditors crawl over AssetCo’s accounts before it would talk any further about a take over. A statement was issued today saying it was not proceeding with the take over.

Worse, documents released to creditors reveal  up to £5m of unpaid bills – including unpaid debts for corporate entertaining at sports fixtures ( £31,000 )and the use of  private jets (£7000). The company blamed its former management and senior staff for leaving this trail of bills for high living, running up an unpaid card credit bill to American Express totalling £134,000.

Now one of the creditors, Bookajet, has told this website that it was left with unpaid bill of £7000 for a hired jet from John Shannon, the former chief executive, after AssetCo refused to pay it. According to a spokesman Mr Shannon appeared to have taken the jet for a personal trip and not on company business. AssetCo are not commenting about this but it looks like Mr Shannon is contesting it.

Bookajet say they have contacted debt recovery lawyers with the aim of seizing AssetCo’s assets.

A taxpayer owned Lloyds Bank fire engine

It has also been revealed by AssetCo and the London Fire Authority that all the capital’s fire engines have never been owned by either of them – they are the property of state-owned Lloyds banking group- owners of the Halifax and Bank of Scotland. The new difference is that Lloyds along with other London banks is now a creditor as well as an owner. There are massive unpaid loans  now totalling  some £30m since AssetCo was launched.

So firefighters are combating riots and blazes in vehicles courtesy of Lloyds Bank ,giving a new  meaning to the Black Horse’s advertising slogan ” for the Journey.” Lloyds are now both the owner and creditor to AssetCo London and promise not to auction them off to get their money back. London Fire Brigade issued a  statement assuring their fire engines are safe.

Two highly embarrassing documents  (see http://bit.ly/px5djv )have been sent to shareholders and creditors revealing the dire state of the company – and pleading with shareholders to accept a massive dilution in shares and creditors accepting less than a quarter of the money they are owed. Banks are being asked to reschedule debts.

Over £100m is owed by AssetCo to its subsidiaries,there are £17m in contingent liabilities to Lloyds, Barclays, Lombard and the Co-operative banks.

Grant Thornton, their auditors – the same company that missed the MetPro security company scandal in auditing Barnet Council’s accounts – are owed £267,000. EDF owed £18,000 in unpaid electricity bills, and even McGrigors, their solicitors based at the Old Bailey who are hosting creditors’ meeting for them, are owed £52,000. The Retained Firefighters Union, is also owed £12,000.

Even  the pension scheme for London staff is at risk if it is not bailed out – the company admit taxpayers will have  to pay out 90 per cent of the cost if it collapses.

Assuming the company is saved, the scandal is not yet over. Further litigation between the firm and John Shannon  over money  will come to court on December 5 as he likely to contest allegations of misusing AssetCo’s cash. Both Lincolnshire and London fire engine contracts are likely to be put up for sale. Only the interest in Abu Dhabi, where the firm works for the military, are likely to be saved.

London AssetCo will only be able eliminate £20m of its debts and be sold off with £30.6m debts. with Lloyds holding on to the fire engines. Lincolnshire has debts of £12m.

Anyone for privatisation after this debacle? Over to you. Mr Neill.

Judge aids rescue package for ” bust ” privatised London fire firm

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Mr Justic Floyd-Helpful to AssetCo Pic courtesy:thisislondon.com

A High Court judge came to the potential rescue of AssetCo, the near insolvent owner of London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines, by granting the company  another month to negotiate an extraordinary deal with its  creditors to wipe out debts of over £100m.

Mr Justice Floyd, sitting  at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, granted applications to adjourn  moves until September 28  to wind up the firm in favour of allowing  the company to open negotiations with its creditors on a deal that will recover some of their lost investments.

Mr Lloyd Tamlyn, for AssetCo, explained that if the company went bust now, the banks and other investors would be lucky to get 0.5 per cent of their money back. But if they agreed to negotiate with the company on a deal they could walk away with 23.5 per cent. In return they would have drop any further demands for cash, wiping out the £100m plus owed by the firm.

 In effect investors in AssetCo look set to lose some £77m. Since the judge was aware that this case was being reported, AssetCo were careful not to ( as at other hearings) list who is owed what.

But from the previous hearing ( where the registrar was not aware he was being reported) the creditors named included  state-owned Halifax Bank of Scotland which is owed £12m and energy company, EDF, which suggests AssetCo may not have paid fuel bills for premises they run in London. Others include FD Direct, the Inland Revenue. They will still be big losers.

The difference the deal would make is shown by Northern Bank who are owed £1.3m and have been very active in opposing moves by AssetCo to give preferential pay outs to its lawyers and accountants.

Adam Goodison, for Northern Bank,  who had pressed for the company to be wound up, explained to the court why the firm is now ” content”  for the deal to go ahead. This followed negotiations that changed the creditor status of Northern Bank, so it could benefit from the proposed pay out.

If AssetCo went bust the bank would be lucky to get £10,000 back from the £1.3m they put into the company. Under the revised deal the bank would get back nearer £300,000. The same would apply to other creditors.

 The question – dealt in passing during the hearing – is where has AssetCo got the cash to even finance this deal? It appears to have come from money raised from international financiers who have given another £10m cash to the company on top of money raised earlier this year which severely diluted its share price to near junk status.

At the last court hearing the financiers were named as North Atlantic Value LLP, a part of the J O Hambro Capital Management Group, Utilico Investments Limited and Henderson, which incorporates the interests of Gartmore Investments Limited.

A hint came from Northern Bank’s lawyer after the hearing when he told me that the deal could be “good news” because it could rescue the company and remove most of its debts. He thought investors were ” taking a punt” on the firm’s future.

The majority of the investors will still have to agree before the deal can go ahead and it will need final approval of the court on September 28 – but the judge’s move means that it could get Brian Coleman, Tory chair of the London Fire Brigade, off the hook from seeing London’s fire engines owned by administrators.

 Once the debt is cleared it then makes the company more attractive to a take over. Nothing more was said in court about a bidder – known to be Arcapita Bank in Bahrain – which suggests they have gone cold on the idea.

The situation is far from satisfactory and does not rule out a slow death of the company,reflected in its low  2.2p share price, valuing it at £5.52m today.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Privatising emergency services is stupid and dangerous. The long, slow death of AssetCo is a perfect illustration of this.  We still do not know what is going to happen to London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines.  They are, we believe, going to be the property of AssetCo’s creditors when AssetCo finally goes under.  I call on the London Fire Brigade and the government to bring the fleet and their maintenance back into public ownership.”

This blog was trying to contact Tudor Davies, head of AssetCo, for a comment.

Update: Near bust AssetCo to try and stave off insolvency again

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AssetCo, the troubled owner of London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines and military contracts in the Middle East, will make a desperate attempt to stave off bankruptcy at a hearing at the High Court tomorrow (thursday).

The near bust firm will be up before Mr Justice Peter Smith in Court 61 in the Chancery Division of the High Court in the Strand pressing for yet another adjournment as it fails to clinch a take over deal with Arcapita, the Bahrain based company. The court hearing begins at 10.30 am ,though AssetCo is at the bottom of the list, and the case may not be heard until later in the day.

In another desperate move the firm will produce at the court draft  documents to be presented to its many creditors in the hope they may stave off the evil day when it will have to cease trading. Details of the documents have not been published but a majority of creditors will have to agree before the company can be saved. The last time the company appeared before the court it said it could go bust owing £140m to banks,electricity companies and suppliers.

Will the judge still be sympathetic to this ill-fated example of privatisation? We will have to wait events.

Morecambe Bay Cockle Pickers: Does the government want it to happen again?

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The cockle picker victims of Morecambe Bay: Will cuts mean more to come? Pic courtesy bbc

Remember the tragedy at Morecambe Bay which led to the deaths of at least 21 cockle pickers? The public outcry that followed the exploitation of these Chinese workers led to the setting up of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to protect migrant and other workers from future exploitation.

Since then it  has been very successful in both licensing gangmasters and working together to fight exploitation with other agencies like the UK Border Agency,the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the police and Revenue and Customs. 

A key test case will take place this autumn with the prosecution of  an Oxfordshire dairy farmer, and potentially 18 other farmers, for using unlicensed labour on their dairy farms. Other cases included investigations into shellfish farmers in County Antrim and a successful opposition to a licence being sought through a Facebook friend of a banned gangmaster who exploited Lithuanian workers.

In the last year its inspectors identified 845 workers who had been exploited to the tune of £2.5m, revoked 33 licences, and prosecuted 12 firms. Some 91 per cent of operations identified serious exploitation. Employers who appeal against its decisions have only a 5 per cent chance of success, 95 per cent of appeals are rejected.

Now any further success is being threatened by a triple whammy from the government. The latest annual report ( http://bit.ly/qp7yeo) reveals that in the last year the government is putting their effectiveness at risk.

Eric Pickles abolished funding for gangmaster intelligence

The biggest blow has come from none other than Eric Pickles, the communities secretary. His department abolished funding altogether to the agency from April. This funded work enabled the agency to set up intelligence operations with local councils and funded community enforcement officers. These posts have now gone.

 Then Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, cut funding by five per cent and Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, imposed a Whitehall recruiting freeze which has mean that skilled people have not been replaced.

At the same time the agency which relies on licence fees for the vast majority of its income has been told to freeze fees for two years, presumably to save business money.It is no wonder the agency’s annual report says: ” The authority faces a major challenge in seeking to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable workers with the prospect of fewer resources.” It also gives a lie to the government’s claim that cutting back office staff won’t have any effect. It admits that these cutbacks” may have an adverse impact on the ability to control risk in the future”.

 Under government spending cuts it will be cut again over the next three years as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs  reduces its budget by eight per cent a year. Given it runs on a shoestring budget in Whitehall terms of under £5m a year and employs 89 staff, it seems remarkable value for money.

It would be a serious tragedy if penny-pinching by the government gave the green light to new exploiters to take advantage. If it does at least transparency makes it clear which minister to blame.

AssetCo buys a month’s grace as investors asked again to bail it out

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AssetCo, the troubled company which owns London and Lincolnshire’s  fire engines, and is £140m in debt, has managed to negotiate a further lifeline from its investors.

 The company which faced being wound up today (July 25) at a High Court hearing in London has gained another month’s grace until August 25 to conclude the deal.

A statement from the company said:””the Board of AssetCo has been in discussions with certain of its major stakeholders (being North Atlantic Value LLP, a part of the J O Hambro Capital Management Group, Utilico Investments Limited and Henderson, which incorporates the interests of Gartmore Investments Limited), ” for further refinancing of aanother £10m.

The price to be paid will be another dilution of the shares – worth just 1p before the deal and 2.50p – after the deal became public, and banks and other creditors will not get all their money back either.

The statement continued:”The strategy will focus  on developing the Middle-East business into a leading emergency services platform and on running the London and Lincoln contracts.  The refinancing proposal to be approved by shareholders will involve the ring-fencing of the LFEPA (london fire brigade)for the benefit of the London subsidiary lender group, although shareholders will retain an interest in any residual value. The Investor Group intends that following this fundraising, the Company will continue to be listed on AIM.”

 The company also said that talks were an advanced stage with a bidder-assumed to Arcapita, the Bahrain based private bank (see previous post), but significantly Arcapita has not signed the deal.

  At Monday’s hearing  the court was told  professional fees for lawyers and financial advisers amd the directors are costing £100,000 a week.

 Mr Justice Floyd warned that if the new private-sector bid failed, it could leave AssetCo with “nothing left in the kitty “.

 “If it is not successful then the assets of the company would look to be depleted by the professional fees being charged to the point where there will be nothing left in the kitty to reimburse creditors of any description “ he said.

  Professional costs to cover just a fortnight’s work restructuring and refinancing the company in the run up to a new bid were detailed in court.  AssetCo directors Tudor Davies and Tim Barrett would charge £40,000 plus VAT, solicitors £112.824 plus VAT and financial advisors would be invoicing for £50,000 plus £5,000.  

  The scale of debt-laden AssetCo’s financial meltdown was disclosed in court – £2.2M at the end of June had shrunk to just £700,020

     Creditors supporting the company’s call for the wind-up order to be adjourned included North Atlantic Value, owed £15.9M by AssetCo. The company, part of the J O Hambro Capital Management Group, which is proposing to contribute to anothedr £10m refinancing deal.. 

   Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union said : “ These assets should be brought back into public ownership. At the court today, we heard lawyers haggling over remuneration fees ASSETCO – costs soar as “new bid” staves off wind up – but still no assurances for Londoners.  

 PrIvatising essential services in crazy, as the AssetCo debacle continues to show. Fire engines in London and Lincolnshire should be brought back into public ownership as soon as possible.”

Exclusive:Are London’s fire engines to be owned by a firm whose advisers advocate jihad?

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Arcapita's swish Bahrain hq: Picture courtesy:http://thebigprojectme

Just when the appalling story of the near bankrupt company,AssetCo, which owns London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines, nears its conclusion,  there is a new and extraordinary twist to the tale.

AssetCo in desperation to stave off bankruptcy on Monday is negotiating a take over with Arcapita Bank, a Bahrain based but Arab and Indonesian privately owned company. This firm because it is owned by Saudis is governed by Shariah law and any transaction must be approved by a special committee of  Sharia advisers.

 Now an investigation by me has come across extraordinary information about their advisers and their views and connections with militant Islam. Enough for me to contact the company in Bahrain and ask for an explanation. Which is more than Brian Coleman, chair of the London fire brigade and Bob Neill, the fire minister, can do- because they have rendered themselves  powerless to do anything  under the terms of the contracts in selling off the fire engines and recruiting auxilliary staff to AssetCo in the first place.

Here are the details and the company’s response. They are three allegations, that they employed an adviser considered so dangerous by the government that he is banned from entering Britain; that they currently employ an adviser who advocates aggressive military jihad and there were involved in a big controversy in the United States over allegations that  their top man had secretly funded Osama Bin Laden.

The first case involves  Yusuf Al-Qaradawi , a man banned from entering Britain since 2008, after advocating the abduction and killing of US soldiers in Iraq and the killing of Israeli citizens. On other matters he is  tolerant, including allowing Muslims to consume a very limited amount of alcohol . He condones wife-beating as a last resort so long as it done lightly and thinks homosexual acts should be punished by the death penalty. He was chairman of  Arcapita Shariah Advisory Board.Ironically he came to Britain in 2004 and Ken Livingstone, the Labour mayorial candidate who approved the original AssetCo contract, shared a platform at City Hall which was condemned by Bob Neill, then a London Assembly member.

The company confirm his former employment: A spokesman said: ” He was an adviser only on aspects of shari’ah law and our relationship with him ended inFebruary 2002. ”

But since he has left he was had been replaced by another adviser Muhammad Taqi Usmani , a senior Pakistan Muslim scholar, and former judge who has recently advocated ” aggressive military jihad.” According to an article in The Times see http://thetim.es/pcASva– he believes Muslims should live peaceably in Britain,”  only until they gain enough power to engage in battle”. He has since corrected this impression suggesting a more ambivalent attitude to jihad.

He also as a former Pakistani sharia judge argued against the women’s protection law which made rape a criminal offence.

The company said ” We believe the report to be a mistranslation of what he actually said. He did not advocate aggressive military jihad.”

The final area involves a row in the US when Arcapita took over Cypress Communications – a company which manufactured a state of the art computer security kit. There was an allegation that the chairman of Arcapita,Mohammed Abdulaziz Aljomaih – was discovered on the ‘Golden Chain’ list of Bin Laden supporters and financiers which was seized in 2002 during an anti-terror raid in Bosnia.

There followed an inquiry by the Committee for Foreign Investment in the US  on whether the company -like the take-over of  US ports by a Dubai firm- and it ended with the company being allowed to run the company but not allowing non US national access to sensitive computer software. See:http://www.nationalcorruptionindex.org/pages/profile.php?profile_id=325

The company’s response is: “This claim was thoroughly investigated by the US authorities at the time and they found that Al Jomaih, chairman of Arcapita, was not the same person named in the list. Restrictions on non US citizens  were applied at the time, like any other foreign company buying a US company in a sensitive area , but these have since been lifted.”

The only person so far to raise this issue of Arcapita has been Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union. In a letter to Bob Neill he says: ” I am sure you will appreciate the importance of this at a time when we are still considering the outcome of the inquest into the 7/7 terror attacks.

“The simple truth is that this privatization has been a complete and utter disaster for all concerned. The complacency and lack of foresight of those responsible is an utter scandal as is the continuing attempt to pretend there is nothing wrong”.

My conclusion is that the arrangements which could lead to Arcapita taking over London’s fire brigade prove there is a major flaw in the government’s privatisation agenda .

If a firm that cannot be vetted can take over such a sensitive area- particularly as London Fire Brigade plays a major role in protecting the capital for future terrorist attacks, there is something seriously wrong.

 I cannot prove that Arcapita is not a fit and proper company to run the operational side of the London fire Brigade ( they own other less sensitive things like Freightliner and Viridian, N Ireland’s electricity). They also point out that their advisers are not employees of the company and they do not have any say in the operation of the company. Nor having just done a blog about the media misrepresenting Muslims, do I want to create scare stories.

But as a citizen I would want my elected representatives to guarantee that in such a sensitive area, they are safe to do so, and there is no hidden agenda behind this take over.

Anything less would be grossly irresponsible and playing with the lives of everybody who lives in London- whether they be Muslim, Jew, Atheist, Christian or whatever. I hope Mr Neill and Mr Coleman are listening.

Exclusive:London’s fire brigade owners to go bust owing £140m on Monday unless a take over succeeds

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AssetCo: In a even deeper hole Pic courtesy TheScottishSun

AssetCo, the owners of London and Lincolnshire’s fire engines will go under on Monday, owing a staggering £140m to creditors unless a take over deal is agreed in the next 48 hours, a registrar’s hearing was told on Thursday evening.

In an extraordinary move in advance of Monday’s Companies Court hearing to examine thecompany being liquidated or going into administration, directors of AssetCo , lawyers, and  investment bankers sought to grab £86,000 in fees before the company went bust.

 Matthew Parfitt, lawyer acting for AssetCo, revealed that lawyers and investment bankers working on potential take over bid said they would ” down tools” or ” down pens” on saving the company unless the Registrar, Mr Briggs, validated fee payments immediately.

He  said  two directors, Tudor Davies and Tim Barrett, threatened to quit the company today (Fri) unless the court authorised payments of £25,000 for a week’s work and up to £1000 for expenses for hotel bills and meals. It was revealed Mr Davies is charging AssetCo £3000 a day for his work and Mr Barrett £2000 a day.

Mr Adam Goodison, acting for creditors Northern Bank, owed over £1.3m, revealed the figures, when he opposed any move to pay out the cash. He speculated whether there was ” panic among the professionals working for the company ” that had made them seek this order. Other creditors were sitting in the Room 412 at the High Court to observe what was happening to their money.

Mr Briggs described Assetco’s submission as ” extremely unattractive” and agreed with Mr Goodison that the company was putting ” a gun to the head of the court” by threatening to ” down tools”unless they received ” a substantial amount of cash.”

He refused to authorise the payments saying ” he hoped the gun will now not go off.” Instead he adjourned any decision to Monday’s hearing which stopped directors getting preferential treatment.

The scale of AssetCo’s woes were revealed in a submission from Mr Parfitt. They show that on Monday it could  go down owing between £117m and £140m and that money was disappearing on a daily basis.

Among the  major new creditors are state owned Halifax Bank of Scotland which is owed £12m and energy company, EDF, which suggests AssetCo may not have paid fuel bills for premises they run in London. Others include FD Direct, the Inland Revenue.

 He tried to talk up the one unnamed bidder still  said to be  in advanced talks saying the deal would mean all creditors would be paid in full ,all bank loans restructured and the company recapitalised. But his statement to the court means that four out of five potential bidders have now walked out.

Mr Briggs queried why in these circumstances the company had not give in confidence details of the bid to the court – which happens in similar cases- so the court could decide itself.

 Mr Goodison went further: ” If this deal is so wonderful why is there any need for this order and it would be unnecessary if it goes ahead.”

Then he detailed the demands for payment. They included a £25,000 flat weekly fee from a foreign investment bank which will get hundreds of thousands of pounds from a success fee if  it goes ahead and £36,000 to a firm of solicitors that has drawn up  the plan for administration.

The only people who came out well were Mr Parfitt and Mr Goodison who declined to take costs for the 90 minute hearing.

Matt Wrack, FBU General secretary said: “The demands the directors and advisors made to the court beggar belief.
“The London and Lincolnshire fire brigades do not own their fire engines and kit and are in crisis because they privatized all of their operational assets. Both brigades, the Mayor of London and Government have shown extraordinary complacency.
“The entire operational assets of both brigades could be seized by creditors and sold off in full or in part. Neither brigade appears to have any fallback plan of any credibility.
“The foolish decision to privatize all fire engines and kit leaves them sitting on the sidelines with no power over what happens to their critical operational assets.
“What was put before the court is a public scandal and makes clear in whose interest private companies work. Yet the only people making an issue out of it are the firefighters on the ground who do care about what happens and the impact it could have on public safety.
“There must be an end to privatization in any critical emergency service.”

 My comment on this is simple. Apart from this being another example of City directors blatantly trying to fill up their boots with oodles of cash at the expense of other people , questions must be asked about all the people who agreed that this company should be given multi million pound contracts. In London I am afraid this includes Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone and Val Shawcross ( he declined to give a quote to me for a Tribune article this week), Boris Johnson  and Brian Coleman, chair of the fire authority, who extended AssetCo’s role. In Lincolnshire I am told senior officials were involved with the firm and then there are all the former fire chiefs who taken jobs with them.

AssetCo shares dropped nearly 13 per cent today to an all time low of 2.22p making it  worth just £5.77m. If  on Monday AssetCo goes down, there must be  an official inquiry.