NO WONDER B&Q HAS RUN OUT OF WHITE PAINT
By Pete Moore On July 5th, 2012The unspeakable in pursuit of a whitewash.
So Parliament is going to investigate the LIBOR rigging scandal. That’s the Tories investigating their chief funders and their own part in the fiddle, and Labour investigating their own part in the fiddle. I’m not anticipating a blockbuster outcome on this one. That they’re going ahead with a Parliamentary inquiry, despite the Attorney General warning the House of Commons that it might undermine potential criminal investigations, suggests that esteemed Parliamentarians are determined to get a certain outcome.
Here’s a suggestion: serious fraud and corruption is afoot. We have an agency specifically designed to investigate serious fraud. In fact its remit is to “encourage good corporate governance and enhance the reputation of the City of London and the UK as a safe place to do business”. It’s called the Serious Fraud Office.
Without any further delay the SFO should be put on the case with an unlimited remit. Oh hang on, the SFO is directly acountable to the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve MP. Scrub that one then.
You can not rob a bank, but a bank can rob you … ;-(
“The outgoing director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) expressed “serious concerns” last night that Government cutbacks to the department’s budget will hamper its efforts to tackle major white-collar crimes. Richard Alderman, who is leaving his post in a fortnight after four years, to be replaced by David Green, said the SFO had suffered a budget cut of 40 per cent since he arrived…..The SFO is also often criticised for not prosecuting enough fraudsters. Mr Alderman repeated his calls for a law that could successfully be used to prosecute the main players behind the banking crisis, where convictions have been practically non-existent.”
Link here
As George Carlin said when asked about a re-investigation of 9/11, “these people don’t investigate themselves”. There will be no (real) inquiry, but there will be a whitewash.
Just let the BoE print another billion then there’s plenty of cash for the SFO to investigate.
Easy.
“So Parliament is going to investigate the LIBOR rigging scandal. That’s the Tories investigating their chief funders and their own part in the fiddle, and Labour investigating their own part in the fiddle. I’m not anticipating a blockbuster outcome on this one.”
Some time ago we were considering the proposed reform of the House of Lords. My suggestion was that it be (drastically) reduced, and perhaps instead of gravy covered politicians we have a group that includes representatives from Taxpayers Alliance, Citizens’ Advice Bureaux and the major charities. We need more non aligned organisations that can question government policies on behalf of the public, not the politicians.