Curses! Thwarted

Well, the creepy caretaker has got away with it this time, and we pesky kids can go f… ourselves: the Serious Fraud Office had decided not to pursue the COnservative Party for the stolen money it received from Asil Nadir in 1988 and hung on to during his twenty years as an international fugitive and his recent conviction of multiple accounts of fraud.

My instinct is that leaving aside the morality of taking and keeping stolen money, the Tories could well be in breach of the Proceeds of Crime Act, for accepting, keeping and not reporting the possession of potentially stolen money, and that a party which is in or aspires to be in charge of public justice should be held to the highest principles.

So why have the police decided to let Grant Shapps and his friends keep the cash? Is it because they is innocent. Not quite…

the SFO has concluded that the cost to the taxpayer would be too high.

So there you have it. If you steal 6 bottles of water during the London riots, you'll get six months in jail. If you profit from theft to the tune of £400,000, you get a get-out-of-jail free card. I don't quite see why this crime is so difficult to prove. The administrators' report and letter to the Conservative Party made it clear that the money is stolen. The Tories still have it.

The stubs of six cheques totalling £365,000 made out to the Conservative Industrial Fund, had been discovered during SFO raids on Nadir's Mayfair address in 1993. The payments had not been authorised by Polly Peck's board, according to administrators.

Therefore they're guilty. There's no mystery at the heart of it. More importantly: a crime is a crime. Justice shouldn't be a matter of profit and loss - though we all know it is.

The Tories have told me to get lost: their defence is that the cash was accepted 'in good faith', which isn't a defence in law of any sort. Asil Nadir's bankruptcy trustee has written asking for it back - no reply. The police aren't going to help, and I doubt any moral pressure will either, but let's give it a go. Ask your local Conservative Party representative why it's OK to hold on to money stolen from the employees of a bankrupt company.

Dear Vole, feck off, love from Grant Shapps

I sent the Chair of the Conservative Party a letter asking why they won't return money donated by Asil Nadir, recently jailed for stealing £29m from his Polly Peck empire. I included a quotation from the Touche Ross report which made the point that the donations were made from companies without the permission or knowledge of the directors or shareholders. 

They have, obviously, told me to piss off, with a particularly weaselly slant: apparently they've never had a donation from Asil Nadir:

Dear Mr Vole, I am writing on behalf of the Party Chairman, The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, to thank you for your recent email. In response to your point I would say that the Conservative Party has no record of having received donations from Asil Nadir. Donations were received from Polly Peck companies more than 22 years ago; these were accepted in good faith from what was then considered to be a leading British company. We have seen no evidence that money donated to the Conservative Party from the Polly Peck group was stolen. But we have consistently said, as Norman Fowler, then Party Chairman, did in 1993, ‘obviously if it is proved that that money was stolen it will be returned’. Thank you, once again, for taking the time and trouble to get in touch.  

Yours sincerely, Oliver  

Oliver Wells 

Office of the Party Chairmen Conservative Campaign Headquarters

Here's the Touche Ross quotation again:

Touche Ross, the administrators of Polly Peck, wrote a letter – widely reported four years ago – to the party's central office claiming that £365,000 came from money defrauded from the Polly Peck empire."It is the contention of the administrator that Mr Nadir is liable to repay the sums concerned as a result of his fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty and/or malfeasance as a director," the letter concluded. "I would urge you to return the donations to Polly Peck so that the creditors can at least obtain some small measure of compensation from this unfortunate affair." 

So let's do this again, this time with feeling:

Dear Oliver,thanks very much for your letter. It seems - as you state - to be the case that Mr Nadir did not directly donate to the Conservative Party. However, as the extract from the administrators' report shows, he is responsible for the Polly Peck and subsidiary company donations, and that the donations were secured as a result of fraudulent activity and Nadir's breaches of company law and his fiduciary duties. As such, the liquidators  requested that you repay the money. 
1. Why have you not done so? 

2. Mr Nadir was a fugitive from justice for thirty years, and the Conservative Party must have been well aware of numerous police inquiries. Why did you not feel that you should investigate the origins of these donations? 

3. Mr Nadir was convicted of a number of crimes. Are you aware that it is a criminal offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act and its forerunners to refrain from reporting potentially fraudulent transaction and receipt of the profits of crime? Given the public nature of Mr Nadir's flight, the collapse of his companies and his eventual conviction, can you confirm to me that you have indeed reported the receipt of these monies to the police? I am not convinced, from reading the Act, that 'good faith' is a defence in law - particularly since Mr Nadir publicly fled the country while facing charges, and since he has subsequently been convicted.  

4. Does Mr Nadir's criminal conviction on multiple counts of fraud, theft and breaches of law not constitute proof that these funds were stolen? Do you have information which was not available to Touche Ross when they wrote to you all those years ago?
Love and hugs, Vole

Clearly Mr Nadir and his money are on the 'second chance' list alongside Hunt, Mitchell, Coulson and Brooks. 

PS. I wrote to my MP, Paul Uppal, about this. No reply… of course. 

Tough on crime… unless it pays.

I was very heartened by the Conservative Party's various policing and justice ministers yesterday. They're promising a new era of zero tolerance and swingeing sentences for criminals. 

Grayling… explicitly promised to be a "tough justice secretary"

The home secretary, Theresa May, reinforced the theme with her announcement of a new "pick a punishment" power for victims of anti-social behaviour and her promise that Conservative candidates in the first elections for police and crime commissioners to be held on 15 November will have a "laser-like focus on cutting crime". 

"Theresa used to say she locked 'em up and Ken let them out. Now Theresa locks 'em up, and Chris throws away the key."  

"I've made no bones about my intention to be a tough justice secretary. That means I want our justice system to be firm, fair and transparent," Grayling said. 

I'm delighted, frankly. Why? Because I know a group of people who are benefitting from the proceeds of crime, which is a crime in itself. They've received stolen money. The thief was a man named Asil Nadir, who ran a major corporation (Polly Peck) in the 1980s. He looted it of £29, 000, 000 and fled to Northern Cyprus. He returned last year to face justice and was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison. 

So which bunch of crooks took some of his stolen money? Why, it's the Conservative Party! They accepted a £400, 000 donation from Polly Peck, channelled through subsidiaries without the consent of directors or shareholders. 

Touche Ross, the administrators of Polly Peck, wrote a letter – widely reported four years ago – to the party's central office claiming that £365,000 came from money defrauded from the Polly Peck empire.
"It is the contention of the administrator that Mr Nadir is liable to repay the sums concerned as a result of his fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty and/or malfeasance as a director," the letter concluded. "I would urge you to return the donations to Polly Peck so that the creditors can at least obtain some small measure of compensation from this unfortunate affair."

At the time, Conservative leaders promised to pay it back if it was found to be stolen. Now they're refusing to return it to compensate the shareholders and employees of the looted company. 

Clearly crime is something other people commit. 

Time for a letter to my local MP Paul Uppal and to the chairman of the Tory Party… one Grant Shapps! Just sent this:

Dear Mr Uppal and Mr Shapps, 

I am heartened by the Conservative Party's crackdown on crime. In that spirit, can I ask you to confirm that the Conservative Party will return the money donated by Asil Nadir via several subsidiaries in the 1980s, as promised by Sir John Major?  

According to Touche Ross, the liquidators, at least £365,000 was illegally donated: "It is the contention of the administrator that Mr Nadir is liable to repay the sums concerned as a result of his fraud and/or breach of fiduciary duty and/or malfeasance as a director," the letter concluded. "I would urge you to return the donations to Polly Peck so that the creditors can at least obtain some small measure of compensation from this unfortunate affair." 

If this money is not returned, I'm afraid the only conclusion one can draw is that the Party's attitude to crime is contingent on its own financial health. 
Yours,