The Return of the Vampire of Finance

by **antiaristo** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:25 pm

Nice piece, 452. A few tidbits. First, I'm quite surprised that Henshall does not mention Propagade Due (P2), the Masonic lodge that subverted the Italian State back in the late 1970's. Berlusconi was found to be a junior member at the time. Did you know we had a self-proclaimed "expert" on P2 on this board? He's never written anything about it, though. Second, Wakeham is an interesting figure in his own right for many reasons. But what intrigued me was that he went to visit Jeffrey Archer in prison shortly after he had been interred. Third, the Serious Fraud Office became known as the "Serious Farce Office" under Barbara Mills (led, it must be acknowledged, by Private Eye). This was because they made so many "mistakes" which led to trial collapses and the consequent acquittal of the acused. This is now the basis for Falconer seeking to eliminate juries in "complex fraud cases". It's the thin end of the wedge, of course, and the intention is to see trial juries go the same way as the grand jury in England. Now we have the Crown Prosecution Service, which does exactly what the name implies. It prosecutes on the orders of the crown. Fourth, for "Royal Prerogative" substitute Treason Felony Act, for that is the authority in which all such acts are grounded. Vis a vis Iraq, see the concurrent thread "Treason Felony Act and the Crime of Aggression".

by **madeupname452** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 4:55 pm

this seems connected somehow to the bankers who are in the news today -due to be extradited to the USA in connection with the Enron fraud.i dont know how it connects but all the same names are swirling around again. City bankers lose extradition appeal <a href="http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1714631,00.html">business.guardian.co.uk/s...31,00.html</a>

by **antiaristo** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 6:23 pm

452, Not sure it has. Looks to me like they deserve no sympathy, but we probably have only part of the story. Maybe they should post here!<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif ALT=":D"> But what I wanted to highlight was what I've just heard on the evening news. Paul Marcincus has died today.

by **madeupname452** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:32 pm

this is from a few days before Marcinkus died... <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16713132&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=silent-witness--name_page.html">www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_..._page.html</a> 17 February 2006 The Mafia, the Vatican heavyweight, the 'suicide' of God's Banker 25 years ago.. the secrets that will be taken to the grave By Don Mackay "GOD'S Banker", Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from a River Thames bridge nearly 25 years ago after apparently taking his own life. But in one of the biggest scandals to hit the Vatican, a murder trial in Italy has linked the Holy See, the Mafia, freemasonry and money-laundering to the financier's death. Prophetically, Calvi was quoted just before he died as saying: "The only book you've got to read is The Godfather... That's the only one that tells how the world is really run." MOST of the flock at Mass in a church on the desert fringes regard the elderly priest in his crimson robes as a kindly soul full of humour. The tall, balding man will tend to his parishioners and read the lesson in a drawling Chicago accent at St Clement of Rome church in Arizona's Sun City. Then he will drive back to his white cinderblock house on the edge of a golf course fairway after chatting to the congregation and patting children on the head as they leave the service. But what few know is the priest, named on the church notice-board only as "retired clergy assisting", holds the secrets to a scandal which has rocked the Vatican to its core. He once stood at the shoulders of three successive popes and controlled untold billions as the head of the Vatican's own bank, the Institute of Religious Works. As he hangs up his vestments, the former Archbishop Paul Marcinkus will remain as tightlipped as he has always done over the links between the Vatican bank, the Mafia and the death of Roberto Calvi, found swinging under Blackfriars Bridge in 1982. Despite attempts by criminal prosecutors in Italy, Switzerland and America, the 84-year-old clergyman, bodyguard to the late Pope John Paul II, has kept a vow of silence behind the security of a Vatican diplomatic passport. He has not been questioned over claims of drug money laundering, shell companies, the collapse of an international bank, alleged murders - or the death of Calvi, dubbed "God's Banker" because of his closeness to the Vatican. Calvi is said to have been introduced to the high echelons of the church by members of masonic P2, branded a "state within a state" by his Banco Ambrosiano mentor, Sicilian Michele Sindona. SINDONA was jailed for the murder of an Italian magistrate probing his bank's dealings and died in prison in 1986 after drinking a cup of poisoned espresso coffee. Now a court in Rome has been told Calvi, who took over as president of the bank, was murdered on the orders of the Mafia. He had fled Banco Ambrosiano's Milan HQ as it teetered on the verge of collapse with debts over £800million - most in dummy loans to Latin American companies set up with the Vatican bank or based on letters of credit from the church state - a major shareholder. In the wake of Calvi's death, the Vatican's bank, headed by Marcinkus, paid out £150million to Banco Ambrosiano creditors, but denied wrongdoing. As the bank collapsed, the seismic shock was felt not only by the Vatican but also by the Mafia - or more dangerously, the Sicilian Cosa Nostra. Calvi shaved off his moustache and headed towards the Austrian border, some say to try to raise the cash to fill the "black hole" of Mafia money he was given to launder. On bail pending an appeal against a jail term for currency offences, he never travelled with fewer than a dozen bodyguards. But he flew into Britain from Innsbruck on a private jet with only one recently hired protector, small-time smuggler Silvano Vittor. He was taken to a safe house in Chelsea Cloisters, West London, said to have been organised by businessman Flavio Carboni. But within a week his body was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge - his pockets full of bricks and £10,000 in mixed currency. Conspiracy theorists claim the bricks were a sign of secret Catholic masons and the bridge was picked for its reference to the Dominican order of Black Friars. Nearly 25 years on, Carboni and Vittor are on trial for Calvi's murder in a heavily fortified courtroom in Rome. But not even Mario Puzo - who echoed Calvi's death in The Godfather Part III - could have penned a plot to match the labyrinthine mix of religion, politics and criminality that has emerged. The first inquest in London ruled that Calvi committed suicide. But many believe it would have been impossible for pot-bellied, unfit Calvi, who suffered from vertigo, to get from either of the Thames's muddy banks to the point where his body was found swinging. The rope was tied to scaffolding under the bridge's central arch, but tests showed no sign of paint or zinc on his clothes from the piping. The suicide verdict was later quashed and Chief Justice Lord Lane granted an appeal to Calvi's widow Clara, son Carlo - himself now a banker in Montreal - and daughter Anna for a new hearing. The judge asked: "If Signor Calvi was intent on killing himself, why should he make his way... four and a half miles from his eighth-floor flat to almost invisible scaffolding, to use a piece of rope, present seemingly only by chance, in order to hang himself? It was a perilous trip... There were plainly quicker, more convenient and less chancy methods available if he was bent on self-destruction." A new inquest brought in an open verdict, leading the way for the City of London Police to reopen their investigation and now the trial in Rome. A post mortem using forensic techniques not available in the 80s showed Calvi had been strangled before the orange rope was placed round his neck. There was no brick dust on his hands or under his nails, no bruises, no tears in his clothing. But there were traces of petrol on his trousers, suggesting he was taken to the spot by boat. The rope was of the sort used by Thames rivermen. Son Carlo said as the trial opened: "We are trying to ensure we get to the bottom of things and show my father was not simply the victim of Mafia hoods." Jailed Mafia hitman and heroin smuggler Francesco Marino Mannoia testified by video link just days ago that he had twice been told Calvi died in a Cosa Nostra-ordered hit. He was on the run when another Mafia man told him Calvi had been murdered. HE added: "He was no longer considered a reliable and trustworthy person by the Cosa Nostra. "He had been given drugs money and money from contraband cigarette sales and he should have laundered it via his bank, but failed." A former head of the Mafia's British organisation, Francesco Di Carlo, 61, said the accused Carboni had sent word he was looking for him to do a job. But by the time he answered the Mafia call he was told: "It has been taken care of." Di Carlo, known as "Frankie the Strangler", said the request had come from Carboni as well as Sicilian Mafia boss Pippo Calo. Calo, Carboni and Vittor are on trial for murder, along with Carboni's Austrian girlfriend and businessman Ernesto Diotallevi. But even if they are found guilty, theories will still abound about who was really behind Calvi's death. The murky world of Vatican politics and Mafia black arts even surrounds the death of John Paul I after only 33 days as Pope. After he was elected he ordered the Vatican bank books to be opened up and pledged to end corruption and fraud. He officially died of a heart attack - but rumours still persist he was poisoned with a bedtime drink. Eventually the Italian authorities issued arrest warrants for Marcinkus, but the church used its diplomatic immunity to keep investigators outside its walls and Marcinkus inside them for seven years, untouchable. After he was allowed to "retire" to Chicago - where he was born in the 20s era of Al Capone - he moved to the Arizona parish where he still helps out, visiting the sick and the elderly. At least two Popes took what they knew to their graves. It looks as if Marcinkus will as well. don.mackay@mirror.co.uk

by **antiaristo** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:12 pm

452, Like so many mysteries that appear complicated, this one is really simple to understand. A few comments. 1 He died in London in 1982 2 The "suicide" verdict was known to be a joke AT THE TIME. Nobody with any intelligence believed he had not been murdered. 3 Mackay (deliberately) omits one of the signals. The Masonic blood oaths refer to what will happen if you open your mouth. It will happen "where the tide rises and falls". That part of the Thames is tidal. 4 The jurisdiction was England. If the verdict was bent it was because the English court is bent. 5 Around this time (late 70's/early 80's) the vatican was under intense financial pressure. It's richest (by an order of magnitude) diocese was in rebellion and refusing to forward any money to Rome. The diocese? Chicago. Marcinkus's diocese. This whole episode is key to understanding how the British crown took over the Vatican through their Freemasons. How they were able to install their own man after John Paul died (understand now, chiggerbit?). And how that man, the greatest traitor in the history of the Church, has run her name through the gutter. The English court/ The Treason Felony Act; understand??? The English court/ The Treason Felony Act; understand??? The English court/ The Treason Felony Act; understand??? The English court/ The Treason Felony Act; understand??? Sorry for repeating myself, but there are some incredibly dense individuals posing as experts on this board. IT WAS THE FUCKING QUEEN MOTHER.

by **antiaristo** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:42 pm

Sounds rather sudden, don't you think? Yes, he was 84. But "found dead"??? <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Priest at the heart of 'God's Banker' scandal dies at 84 By Rupert Cornwell in Washington Published: 22 February 2006 Paul Marcinkus, the flamboyant Chicago-born priest at the helm of the Vatican bank for 18 years and a central figure in the scandal of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, died yesterday, at 84. Archbishop Marcinkus was found dead at his home in Sun City, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, where he had retired after leaving Rome in 1990. He had lived his final years as a parish priest, steadfastly refusing to discuss the scandal which had brought such discredit on the Catholic Church. Powerfully built, Marcinkus first arrived in Rome in the 1950s. He was a bodyguard to Pope Paul VI, before being appointed President of the Istituto per le Opere di Religione - the Vatican Bank - in 1971. "You can't run the Church on Hail Marys," he once said. But his efforts to improve the finances of the Holy See led him into disastrous entanglements, first with Michele Sindona, the Mafia-linked Italian banker, and then with Calvi, President of Banco Ambrosiano. Ambrosiano collapsed in June 1982, and Calvi was found dead in London, hanged beneath Blackfriars Bridge. Investigators quickly uncovered a network of tiny companies in Peru, Nicaragua and the Bahamas, many of them sponsored by the Vatican, in which Calvi had hidden some £700m of debts. Marcinkus himself was a board member of Ambrosiano's subsidiary in Nassau, a conduit for many of the illicit transactions. Marcinkus denied responsibility, insisting he had been duped by Calvi. But the Vatican eventually paid £145m as settlement with Ambrosiano creditors.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article346957.ece">news.independent.co.uk/eu...346957.ece</a>

by **antiaristo** » Fri Feb 24, 2006 8:19 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr> The Guardian profile: David Mills Lawyer's business dealings have brought discomfort for wife, Tessa Jowell John Hooper in Rome and Tania Branigan Friday February 24, 2006 The Guardian In his early 40s, David Mills, then a barrister, felt the time had come for a change. "I had been at the bar for 10 years and I decided I wanted to do something more commercial," he said this week. In the middle of the 1980s the City, buoyed by the bull market of the century, was emerging as Europe's undisputed financial capital. Vast amounts of money were passing through London and British lawyers were needed to write - and challenge - contracts drawn up, often under English law, to regulate the flow. Such was the demand, and such the flow, that at times they could name their fees. Yet, profitable as Mr Mills's choice must have been, it is one he has since had cause to rue. His involvement with foreign, and particularly Italian, companies has repeatedly led to acute embarrassment for him and his wife, the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell. Never has this been truer than since publication last weekend of a letter he wrote to accountants implying he had received money from Silvio Berlusconi's business empire for negotiating "some very tricky corners" in evidence to the Italian courts. Mr Mills maintains the letter merely outlined a scenario designed to elicit tax advice and that the money came from another client. His accomplishments extend far beyond the law. His friend Ruth Rogers, of River Cafe fame, has described him cooking her recipes "absolutely perfectly" and he took a year out of his career for the sake of a postgraduate course at the Courtauld Institute; his resulting expertise makes him "very useful on our Caravaggio hunts", his wife once observed. He is also a clarinettist who plays in various amateur orchestras, a golfer and a tennis player, said a friend of the family. Soon after graduating, he became a Labour councillor in Camden. It was there that he met Tessa Jowell, then assistant director of the charity Mind. Their relationship came to light as Ms Jowell was fighting a byelection. They married the following year. His airy confidence would have been a considerable social asset to the young politician as she ascended through the ranks of the Labour party. But within six years of their marriage, he was edging into an area of law with an exceptionally high potential for generating political discomfort. He had been approached by the leading Milan law firm of Carnelutti, who asked him to set up a London office. This he did, running the business in tandem for nine years with his own firm of solicitors, Mackenzie Mills. At its peak, the dual operation had some 50 clients, Mr Mills said this week. "They included Benetton and a number of other very big companies of which Fininvest [the firm at the apex of Silvio Berlusconi's group] was an important - but by no means the most important - client." David Mills does have a remarkable propensity for involving himself in controversy. In 2003, it was revealed he was involved in a project to sell jet aircraft to Iran and last year he was accused of receiving preferential treatment from a government minister on how to proceed. He said the sale did not go through and that he was not granted any preferential treatment. However, it is his "Italian connection" that has most often drawn him into the firing line. In 1997, it emerged he had been a non-executive director of Benetton's Formula One team at a time when controversy was raging over his wife's decision not to ban F1 tobacco advertising. Some of David Mills's Italian clients simply needed help with British law. Others, though, wanted advice on the use of offshore trusts and companies, and Mr Mills and his associates set up a special company, CMM Corporate Services, to deal with that. It is this activity that has provided him with most headaches since selling CMM in 1994. Though there was no suggestion he was involved in any wrongdoing, his name has cropped up in reports of investigations into at least two companies he formed, apart from those belonging to Fininvest. David Mills's help was crucial as the creator of what Italian newspapers have termed an "archipelago" of offshore trusts and funds for Silvio Berlusconi. Even before Mr Berlusconi first came to power in 1994, investigators were probing its geography. Two years later, the Serious Fraud Office, acting on behalf of prosecutors in Milan, raided the Regent Street offices of the company to which Mr Mills had sold CMM. The documents they carried away provided evidence in a string of prosecutions in which Italy's richest man has been accused - but never convicted - of using his hidden corporations, not just to get around the rules on media ownership, but to bribe, corrupt and evade tax. Mr Berlusconi has always denied wrongdoing and insisted he is the victim of a witch-hunt by leftwingers in the prosecution service. Mr Mills's position has been equally consistent - that he was simply a professional adviser who always acted within the law. The CV Age 61 Family Married Tessa Jowell 1979, two children, Jessie and Matthew (and three children from his first marriage) Lives Camden, north London Career Founder and managing partner of Mackenzie Mills, firm that merged with Withers in 1995. Joined Mayfair private client law firm Gordon Dadds as an equity partner in 2001. Set up law firm Mills Saint James in 2003. Interests Golf, walking. Quotes On whether he regretted the recent embarrassment caused to his wife: "Of course I am utterly mortified."<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1716785,00.html">politics.guardian.co.uk/l...85,00.html</a> Under English law. You know what that means. It means subject to the Treason Felony Act. His sister <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Dame Barbara Mills, DBE, QC Dame Barbara Mills, DBE, QC is The Adjudicator for the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, having been from 1992 to 1998, the Director of Public Prosecutions. As Director of the Serious Fraud Office Dame Barbara dealt with the BCCI case. In 1986 she was a DTI inspector under the Financial Services Act and has been a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, a Legal Assessor to the General Medical Council and a member of the Parole Board amongst others<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/our_peop/members/all_members/biogs/barbaramills.htm">www.competition-commissio...amills.htm</a>

by **antiaristo** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:34 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Mills may face indictment in Italian inquiry Ned Temko Sunday February 26, 2006 The Observer The Italian prosecutor in charge of the case arising from Tessa Jowell's husband's financial dealings was last night reported to be close to indicting him. In an interview in The Sunday Telegraph, Fabio de Pasquale said he was confident he had enough evidence to take the cabinet minister's husband, the lawyer David Mills, to court for perverting the course of justice during a corruption investigation of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. The prosecutor said he planned to bring Mills to court in 10 days' time. If convicted, Mills could face up to eight years in jail. Mills, who acted as a legal adviser to Berlusconi, has strenuously denied allegations in Italy that he received £350,000 from him in return for 'protecting' the Italian leader during the corruption probe. He has said the money was from another client. Friends of Jowell have said she had no knowledge of or involvement in Mills' financial dealings. Last night, she denied any wrongdoing in connection with a report in The Sunday Times that Mills had used their jointly owned home as part of a financial transaction including the £350,000. 'I signed a charge over our jointly owned home to support a loan made to my husband alone by his bank,' she said in a statement that friends said was cleared by the Cabinet Office. 'I am satisfied no conflict of interest arose out of this transaction in relation to my ministerial duties.'<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1718412,00.html">observer.guardian.co.uk/p...12,00.html</a> Very comforting to know that Tessa has exonerated herself, just like Arnie the groper.

by **antiaristo** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:24 am

It's breaking all over. Today's developments, Part 1 He's desperately trying to keep her out of it. But it's too late. <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Mortgage loan story rejected by Jowell's husband Owen Bowcott and John Hooper in Rome Monday February 27, 2006 The Guardian David Mills, the husband of the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, yesterday dismissed as "completely untrue" allegations that the couple took out a mortgage loan in order to bring "bribe" money for him in from Italy. His comments were made as Ms Jowell was dragged into the affair by calls from the shadow leader of the Commons, Theresa May, for the cabinet secretary to investigate whether there had been a breach of the ministerial code. Mr Mills has come under mounting attack over his relationship with the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The 61- year-old lawyer is under investigation in Milan over allegations - which he denies - that he received £350,000 from Mr Berlusconi in return for evidence he gave at the Italian prime minister's earlier corruption trial. In a statement to the Sunday Times, which reported on the mortgage transaction, Ms Jowell said: "[In September 200<img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/alien.gif ALT="0]"> I signed a charge over our jointlyowned home to support a loan made to my husband alone by his bank. I am satisfied that no conflict of interest arose out of this transaction in relation to my ministerial duties. As is standard practice in relation to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further." Yesterday Mr Mills said: "They are trying to suggest that this money was connected with the payment to me of this money [from Italy]. It's completely untrue. I took out this mortgage to buy some other investments. There was a narrow opportunity to buy them. The suggestion that my wife was complicit is a monstrous libel. This is an unusual position because the court documents are all out in the open. The papers are doing this because it's not an English trial. It demonstrates why it's [impossible] to have a trial by newspapers." Mr Mills said the two financial transactions were "totally unconnected". The money received from Italy "was not a bribe", and came from someone unrelated to Mr Berlusconi. Yesterday the Conservatives asked for independent scrutiny of the affair. "I have written to the cabinet secretary [Sir Gus O'Donnell] and asked him to confirm that there has been no breach of the ministerial code so people can feel that there is somebody other than the parties immediately involved," Ms May said. The Cabinet Office yesterday said that Sir Gus would respond, probably later this week. Committal proceedings are being held in Milan to decide whether Mr Mills, Mr Berlusconi and others should face trial over charges arising from the trading of TV rights through offshore companies set up by the minister's husband. All the accused deny the charges. In a second case, the same prosecutors have let it be known they plan to bring an additional charge of corruption against Mr Mills and Mr Berlusconi. They contend that Italy's prime minister and richest man paid the minister's husband for favourable testimony at two trials in the 1990s. Again, both men deny the charges.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1718690,00.html">politics.guardian.co.uk/l...90,00.html</a> Part 2 Looks to me like she has facilitated money laundering and tax evasion. Par for the course for a Blair Babe. <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Jowell denies fault over Berlusconi scandal Matthew Tempest and agencies Monday February 27, 2006 The culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, today denied breaking the ministerial code over her husband's involvement in an alleged bribery scandal related to the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The prime minister, Tony Blair, will have to defend her today at a joint press appearance with Ms Jowell to publicise a gender parity pay report. Ms Jowell is also waiting to find out if the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, will acquiesce to Conservative demands for an inquiry into the affair. Doorstepped by journalists as she left her London home this morning, Ms Jowell was defiant, saying: "I am absolutely happy that everything has been done properly and that there was no conflict of interest." Asked if she thought there should be an inquiry into the matter, she said someone had to tell her what she had done wrong first. Ms Jowell was defended by fellow minister Harriet Harman, who demanded an end to the "witch hunt" against her colleague. Tory MPs are thought likely to raise questions in parliament over Ms Jowell's decision to co-sign a mortgage application on the £700,000 home in north London which she jointly owns with husband David Mills, an international lawyer. Mr Mills has been embroiled for years in investigations and court cases relating to the complex financial affairs of the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. He is currently under investigation over allegations - which he denies - that he received a bribe of around £350,000 in return for helpful testimony at an earlier corruption trial. A document published in the Sunday Times yesterday showed that Ms Jowell signed a mortgage application in September 2000, which raised around £400,000 against the security of the Kentish Town home she jointly owns with her husband. In a letter leaked from the Italian investigation, Mr Mills reportedly stated that he invested the money from this loan, before paying off the mortgage with £350,000 which had been placed in a hedge fund for his use by "the B people". In a statement yesterday, Ms Jowell said: "I signed a charge over our jointly-owned home to support a loan made to my husband alone by his bank. "I am satisfied that no conflict of interest arose out of this transaction in relation to my ministerial duties. "As is standard practice in relation to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further." The shadow Commons leader, Theresa May, has asked Sir Gus to rule on whether Ms Jowell breached the ministerial code - although Mr Blair is ultimately responsible for deciding whether colleagues have overstepped the mark. Liberal Democrat peer Lord Goodhart said today that a minister was not personally responsible for the conduct of his or her spouse. "Tessa Jowell will only be in trouble over this if it turns out that she has been in some way involved in any misbehaviour by her husband," he said. The former member of the committee on standards in public life told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If it (the money) was obtained improperly, if it was a bribe of some kind, and if Tessa Jowell knew about it, then I think there are problems. But not if not." Ms Harman told the Today programme: "Tessa Jowell says she has abided to the letter and the spirit of [the ministerial code]. No doubt, of course, she will answer any questions that are put to her. "But I do think in the meantime there shouldn't be a witch hunt, somehow sort of smearing and innuendo. She should be allowed to get on with her job, which she does very well indeed."<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1718921,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uk_new...21,00.html</a> Isn't it amazing how these high-powered barristers and ministers just "didn't know"?

by **antiaristo** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:05 pm

How's this for a fast moving scandal <blockquote>Quote:<hr>2.45pm update -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blair backs Jowell over Berlusconi claims Matthew Tempest and agencies Monday February 27, 2006<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1718921,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uk_new...21,00.html</a> <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Blair distances himself from Jowell Press Association Monday February 27, 2006 5:53 PM<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-5651128,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/uklate...28,00.html</a> There's a well-known quote from Harold Wilson, former prime minister, that "A week is a long time in politics". There's just over three hours between those two quotes.

by **antiaristo** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:36 pm

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>Jowell denial fails to quell bribery claims Cabinet secretary inquiring into allegations over mortgage pay-off Patrick Wintour, Owen Bowcott and Ian Cobain Tuesday February 28, 2006 The Guardian Downing Street refused to give Tessa Jowell, the culture secretary, an instant clean bill of health yesterday in face of allegations that she and her husband, David Mills, paid off a mortgage on their London home with a £350,000 gift from the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. The allegation, if proved, would put Ms Jowell in potential breach of the ministerial code and even prompt her resignation. No 10 stressed that its pointedly limited support for Ms Jowell was designed to prevent accusations that it was pre-empting an informal inquiry into the affair urgently being conducted by the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell. Tony Blair has been burnt before by leaping to the defence of his closest cabinet colleagues - most recently David Blunkett - only to find them forced to resign as further damning evidence seeps out. The limited support also reflects the difficulties in getting to the bottom of Mr Mills's byzantine and controversial business dealings. It has been alleged that Ms Jowell and Mr Mills jointly took out a mortgage on their home in 2000 as a means of bringing into Britain £350,000 from an offshore account, and this cash was in effect a gift to Mr Mills from Mr Berlusconi. Clause 5.24 of the ministerial code says ministers are under a duty to be careful about the acceptance of all gifts and loans given to them or their family members, if it could place them under an obligation. Ms Jowell denied the money to pay back the mortgage came from Mr Berlusconi, and said she jointly took out the mortgage with her husband so he could take advantage of an investment opportunity. Following a request for an investigation by shadow leader of the house, Theresa May, Sir Gus began his inquiry and is expected to reply to Ms May later this week. The cabinet office argued Sir Gus's questioning did not amount to a formal inquiry. The Italian newspaper La Repubblica alleged that the so-called "thank-you" payment from Mr Berlusconi may have amounted to a far larger sum, possibly as much as $1m (£575,000). Not all of it, the newspaper reported, had been traced. Ms Jowell told BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour: "If I felt that either I or my husband were harbouring some guilty secret I would be very worried indeed." She defended her limited involvement in her husband's dealing: "What I did was to sign a form that enabled the bank to take a charge on our house in order that my husband could then buy some investments he wanted to do. I did that because our houses are in our joint names. It is as simple as that. It's not an unusual thing to do, it is not an improper thing to do". Tony Blair, who was by Ms Jowell's side at the launch of a women and work commission report yesterday, expressed his personal confidence in the culture secretary. Close colleagues claim she is the victim of a witch-hunt, and denied there had been any proved conflict of interest. At the heart of the investigation will be the question of whether Mr Mills and Ms Jowell received money from Mr Berlusconi. Italian prosecutors allege that Mr Mills received the cash in return for helping Mr Berlusconi in corruption inquiries in Italy. Mr Mills has told the Guardian the money he received from Italy in late 2000 - and then used to pay off his mortgage - did not come from Mr Berlusconi but from another, unrelated business source. The allegation that it was a bribe is untrue, he said.<hr></blockquote><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1719636,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/frontp...36,00.html</a> This is looking more damning by the hour. Jowell and her husband took out a joint mortgage on their home. Therefore Jowell would be liable to the bank for half the debt. That mortgage was then cleared with money from Berlusconi. That means that Jowell herself was the recipient of half of that money, FOR HER OWN ACCOUNT. That means Jowell was bribed by Berlusconi. Jowell is Secretary of State for Culture, MEDIA and Sport. She is the minister in charge of TELEVISION. Berlusconi is a TELEVISION magnate. Jowell is a close ally of Blair. Berlusconi is a close ally of Blair. Looks interesting! Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=antiaristo>antiaristo</A> at: 2/27/06 7:40 pm

by **antiaristo** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 8:52 am

Murdoch is once more doing Her Majesty's bidding. Members of the working class are routinely told by judges up on high that "Ignorance of the law is no excuse". But Murdoch's arsewipe newspaper appears to be saying that, where it concerns a Minister of the Crown, ignorance of the law CAN excuse criminal behaviour. It was, after all, but a "two second-flourish of her pen". WHO, exactly, feels the right to turn this world upside down? <blockquote>Quote:<hr>Leading articles The Times February 28, 2006 On the dotted line Tessa Jowell’s signature on a mortgage application is at best embarrassing The financial affairs of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, are labyrinthine. They have consumed Italian prosecutors for the best part of a decade. Those of Tessa Jowell are less complex. But they are threatening to make life extremely uncomfortable for the Culture Secretary. Ms Jowell may have reason to gripe at the way that her household accounts are being tied suggestively to the murky Berlusconi business empire. But she provided the link with her own hand. By signing a joint mortgage application with her husband David Mills, a former legal adviser to Signor Berlusconi’s Fininvest empire, she brought a central issue in the Italian general election — the tycoon’s business methods — into the kitchen of her North London home. The question for Ms Jowell, no less comfortable for being familiar, has thus become: what did she know, and when did she know it? Her signature, it is alleged, prompted Mr Mills to activate a large sum of money held offshore. According to Italian prosecutors, it was placed there by associates of Signor Berlusconi for Mr Mills in return for his helpful testimony in previous corruption trials. Mr Mills told his accountant that it was a “long-term loan or a gift”. Prosecutors view it as a bribe. Specifically, Ms Jowell’s signature appears to have triggered the import of £350,000 from the fund to the UK. Mr Mills denies any wrongdoing. The issue is one for the Italian courts, should the case proceed. Thankfully, British ministers are not yet disqualified from holding office according to their choice of spouse. Ms Jowell, therefore, does not have to answer for her husband’s actions. But the disclosure of her own signature — despite earlier denials from Mr Mills that she had played any part in his business transactions — does raise questions about her role. Did she know why her husband wanted to take the highly unusual step of raising a substantial six-figure mortgage, only to repay it within a month? Did she agree with his financial reckoning? Did she know where the money was coming from? She said yesterday that the money had “categorically” not come from Signor Berlusconi. Witness statements from her husband suggest otherwise, though he has since retracted them. For the time being, Ms Jowell appears to be on firm ground when insisting that nothing she has done, including the two-second flourish of her pen, conflicts with her public duties as Culture, Media and Sport Secretary. It should also be noted that the timing of the current allegations, weeks before the Italian general election, is no coincidence. Whether she has breached the code of ministerial conduct, which calls for ministers “to behave according to the highest standards of constitutional and personal conduct in the performance of their duties”, is a separate matter. More specifically, it requires ministers to provide their permanent secretaries with a list of not only their own personal interests, “but those of a spouse or partner”, including those involving real estate. Did she do so? When? Sir Gus O ’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, is, initially at least, well placed to clarify such issues. But the toughest question is for Ms Jowell to reflect on in private. In retrospect, knowing what she knew, if she failed to ask appropriate questions of her husband, should she be claiming the confidence of the Prime Minister? It is a matter for her conscience.<hr></blockquote> <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,542-2061325,00.html">www.timesonline.co.uk/art...25,00.html</a> Could the next urban bomber not claim that his actions were "but a one-second flourish of the trigger"?

by **Byrne** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:27 am

Anti, Ta for keeping us up to date with this story..... Byrne

by **antiaristo** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:41 am

Cross posted Take a look here <a href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/archives/2006/02/28/silvio_service.html">blogs.guardian.co.uk/news...rvice.html</a> At 12:28 I left this comment, under my own name. Quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Come off it Michael. It was a JOINT mortgage. Jowell was on the hook to the bank for half of the debt. If that mortgage was repaid with money from Berlusconi then half that money was paid to Jowell. That is the legal position. I can think of any number of reasons why a Foreign TELEVISION magnate might want to Bribe the Minister of the Crown responsible for British TELEVISION. Who are you kidding? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That comment has been removed, and the entire weblog has been closed to further comments. Check it out for yourselves. They're running scared. Edited by: antiaristo

by **slimmouse** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 11:49 am

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>That comment has been removed, and the entire weblog has been closed to further comments. Check it out for yourselves.<hr></blockquote> D -notice ? Ah the beauty of a free press. Hilarious.

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