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Friday 16 August 2013

TRANSEUROPA COVER-UP GROUP

Tonight was the first meeting of the Transeuropa Working Group. I turned up to express my reservations about this so-called exercise in "scrutiny" and to tender  my resignation from its membership. I wasn't alone  Councillor Zita Wiltshire  felt the same way as me and resigned as well.


In my opinion this group is flawed and will fail to get to the truth of what went on. How can a committee with a large majority of Labour and Conservative Party Councillors conduct a fair and objective investigation into the actions of their party leaders.(Bob Bayford and Clive Hart) who kept this outrageous  £3. 3 million gamble with public money  a secret for almost three year. Impossible! 

The members of this working group are hardly objective, independent and open minded. They are exactly the same people who recently voted against my proposal for  an independent  public enquiry into the Transeuropa Debt scandal. They are the same people who voted against my motion to make all of the secret documents related  to Transeuropa freely available to all councillors. Many of  them also depend upon the patronage of their party leaders for the positions and additional allowances they enjoy so they are hardly likely to rock the boat

Furthermore how can a working group which is serviced and supported by a number of senior officers who were deeply involved with managing  the Transeuropa debt scandal, and who may, or may not,  have acted improperly, be confident of receiving  truly impartial advice and assistance. To imagine otherwise is deny human nature.

My prediction is that this fatally flawed working group will probably "discover"  some minor procedural naughtiness and might slap a few wrists for the sake of window dressing. The real issues - the secrecy, the lack of openness and transparency and  the possibility that rules and regulations were ignored, bent or broken will not be addressed.

I don't want to lend credibility to a cover-up. The answer is a independent public enquiry.



4 comments:

  1. shame you could not stay and do the job you were elected to do....represent your electorate at TDC!

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  2. Well done Ian - and the councillors on Scrutiny don't even have the TEF documents yet? Call the Police in.

    With the limit on debt suddenly agreed at £150k it does make the £3M debt even worse.

    We're all paying for these fools.

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  3. I think the question is more about why and how Clive allowed himself to be persuaded to the course of subsidy action apparently contrary to EU articles of grant aid and secrecy.

    It is clear to me, from recent dealings with Clive in which he made not one response himself, that he hides behind Harvey Patterson.

    The sequel to this was Cllr Iris Johnston seeking legal advice from Harvey of whether he was wrong in law and Richard was right in law.

    Usually this sort of thing is decided before a process is administered.

    Iris belated question would also be relevant to the role of double hatted Steve Ladyman in grant aid to local industry (7 million) at a time such industry was subject to a call for inquiry from Kent Police Authority.

    Although I do not expect a reply yesterday I reported some of the 1990s history to the barrister who represented Mrs Mortlock in 1998. In the successful libel action she brought against North Thanet tory Vice Chair George Maison. Was the Court told by a tory Cllr that there was no process of inquiry involving George Maison and his associates ? Wasn't one of Mr Maison's long term associates a Thanet trades unionist, at a grant aided manufacturer, for example known to electrical trades union people like mmmmm ? Clive Hart ?

    And wasn't Steve Ladyman MP refusing to continue Jonathan Aitken's constituency case work by raising inquiry with Thanet Trades Unions ?

    Harvey !!!! Best wishes Richard

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  4. Cant think what you are worried about. Have no fear, with the Brain of Britain and Bayford puppet Ken Gregory on the group, all will be revealed.

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