Potential criminality at Labour’s largest donor?

[anonymous-user]

This could be interesting running up to a General Election

https://www.jackfm.co.uk/news/politics/potential-c...

[sugerbear]

cc3 said:

This could be interesting running up to a General Election

https://www.jackfm.co.uk/news/politics/potential-c...

Wait until you find out about all the Russian money slushing around the conservative party. Your mind will be totally blown !!

[Countdown]

Reading between the lines it looks like Unite have been massively ripped off (possibly with internal collusion)?

[frisbee]

Countdown said:

Reading between the lines it looks like Unite have been massively ripped off (possibly with internal collusion)?

Sound perfectly suited for government then!

[Randy Winkman]

I think that how much it matters to an election depends on how The Labour party is involved.

[anonymous-user]

I guess Starmer will do the decent thing and stop receiving all donations until the air has been cleared after all he would want the Tory party to do the same. He’s held himself up as a decent bloke not like Johnson and his mates. Probably nothing to the story but best he is seen to be doing the right thing.

[Largechris]

cc3 said:

This could be interesting running up to a General Election

https://www.jackfm.co.uk/news/politics/potential-c...

It's a story that's been going on for a while already, maybe £70 million of members money wasted / stolen.

BUT

Will it affect a GE?

Nah, no chance. As we've seen, there simply aren't enough voters who are sufficiently wound up by the corruption of the main parties to influence a GE.

"Lessons will be learnt, never again, serious matter, internal investigation" yadda yadda.

[z4RRSchris]

donate dodgey cash to union > union give you overpriced contracts > money clean ?

[RogerDodgerSuperTodger]

Some of the numbers suggest either a complete and utter ‘corporate’ governance shambles or old fashioned corruption.

[Countdown]

Largechris said:

It's a story that's been going on for a while already, maybe £70 million of members money wasted / stolen.

BUT

Will it affect a GE?

Nah, no chance. As we've seen, there simply aren't enough voters who are sufficiently wound up by the corruption of the main parties to influence a GE.

"Lessons will be learnt, never again, serious matter, internal investigation" yadda yadda.

To be fair this doesn't have anything to do with corruption in the Labour Party. or even UNITE (at worst it's an extremely expensive corporate governance failure).

[Countdown]

cc3 said:

I guess Starmer will do the decent thing and stop receiving all donations until the air has been cleared after all he would want the Tory party to do the same. He’s held himself up as a decent bloke not like Johnson and his mates. Probably nothing to the story but best he is seen to be doing the right thing.

This is nonsense.

UNITE appear to have been ripped off. They haven't done anything dodgy or criminal (and tbh it's pretty pathetic to suggest that they have). That being the case there's no reason why Labour should stop taking their donations.

[Largechris]

Countdown said:

cc3 said:

I guess Starmer will do the decent thing and stop receiving all donations until the air has been cleared after all he would want the Tory party to do the same. He’s held himself up as a decent bloke not like Johnson and his mates. Probably nothing to the story but best he is seen to be doing the right thing.

This is nonsense.

UNITE appear to have been ripped off. They haven't done anything dodgy or criminal (and tbh it's pretty pathetic to suggest that they have). That being the case there's no reason why Labour should stop taking their donations.

Yep, apart from the allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering that led to a police raid of Unite headquarters in April this year:

"Unite the Union’s headquarters in London were raided by police this week in relation to a financial crime investigation involving the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham.

Sky News reported that between 15 and 20 officers were involved in the search of the office building in Holborn (pictured), and left with boxes of documents and a computer.

The raid was a joint operation by South Wales Police and the UK's tax authority, HMRC. A spokesperson for the force said it had carried out the search to investigate allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering"

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/financial/unite...


I mean, apart from that, no hint of wrongdoing at Unite.

[untakenname]

The vindictive striking by the unions this winter against the public means that Labour won't get in at the next general election.

I've never understood why unions are allowed to have political affiliations as they are limiting their potential customers to less than half the electorate.

[Caddyshack]

Countdown said:

cc3 said:

I guess Starmer will do the decent thing and stop receiving all donations until the air has been cleared after all he would want the Tory party to do the same. He’s held himself up as a decent bloke not like Johnson and his mates. Probably nothing to the story but best he is seen to be doing the right thing.

This is nonsense.

UNITE appear to have been ripped off. They haven't done anything dodgy or criminal (and tbh it's pretty pathetic to suggest that they have). That being the case there's no reason why Labour should stop taking their donations.

I suspect the criminal aspect is unite wilfully allowing the rip off to benefit the people they want to benefit.

Politics is a grubby old business. They have to deal with grubby people.

[Countdown]

Largechris said:

Yep, apart from the allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering that led to a police raid of Unite headquarters in April this year:

"Unite the Union’s headquarters in London were raided by police this week in relation to a financial crime investigation involving the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham.

Sky News reported that between 15 and 20 officers were involved in the search of the office building in Holborn (pictured), and left with boxes of documents and a computer.

The raid was a joint operation by South Wales Police and the UK's tax authority, HMRC. A spokesperson for the force said it had carried out the search to investigate allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering"

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/financial/unite...


I mean, apart from that, no hint of wrongdoing at Unite.

The article said:

A Unite spokesperson said: “A Unite employee is subject to a criminal investigation by the police. On Wednesday 6 April, the employee’s office at Unite HQ in Holborn, London, was accessed and searched by the police under warrant.”

You seem determined to believe that the Union has been involved in "bribery, fraud, and money laundering" The article suggests it's one specific individual that's being investigated.

But yes, Labour grrrr

[Caddyshack]

Countdown said:

Largechris said:

Yep, apart from the allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering that led to a police raid of Unite headquarters in April this year:

"Unite the Union’s headquarters in London were raided by police this week in relation to a financial crime investigation involving the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham.

Sky News reported that between 15 and 20 officers were involved in the search of the office building in Holborn (pictured), and left with boxes of documents and a computer.

The raid was a joint operation by South Wales Police and the UK's tax authority, HMRC. A spokesperson for the force said it had carried out the search to investigate allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering"

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/financial/unite...


I mean, apart from that, no hint of wrongdoing at Unite.

The article said:

A Unite spokesperson said: “A Unite employee is subject to a criminal investigation by the police. On Wednesday 6 April, the employee’s office at Unite HQ in Holborn, London, was accessed and searched by the police under warrant.”

You seem determined to believe that the Union has been involved in "bribery, fraud, and money laundering" The article suggests it's one specific individual that's being investigated.

But yes, Labour grrrr

Anti labour will be grr and pro will be ‘nothing to see here’

[Largechris]

Countdown said:

Largechris said:

Yep, apart from the allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering that led to a police raid of Unite headquarters in April this year:

"Unite the Union’s headquarters in London were raided by police this week in relation to a financial crime investigation involving the construction of a hotel and conference centre in Birmingham.

Sky News reported that between 15 and 20 officers were involved in the search of the office building in Holborn (pictured), and left with boxes of documents and a computer.

The raid was a joint operation by South Wales Police and the UK's tax authority, HMRC. A spokesperson for the force said it had carried out the search to investigate allegations of bribery, fraud and money laundering"

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/financial/unite...


I mean, apart from that, no hint of wrongdoing at Unite.

The article said:

A Unite spokesperson said: “A Unite employee is subject to a criminal investigation by the police. On Wednesday 6 April, the employee’s office at Unite HQ in Holborn, London, was accessed and searched by the police under warrant.”

You seem determined to believe that the Union has been involved in "bribery, fraud, and money laundering" The article suggests it's one specific individual that's being investigated.

But yes, Labour grrrr

Dear oh dear. I suppose from your point of view let’s hope it’s not Len McCluskey under investigation., wiki:

“In January 2021, Unite's executive counsel convened to discuss cost overruns on a union-funded building project undertaken by Paul Flanagan, a close personal associate of McCluskey; the construction works, which were originally supposed to cost £7 million pounds, had reached a cost of £96.5 million by January 2021, with an estimated £15 million in profits accruing to Flanagan.[42][43] In December 2021, Sharon Graham announced an independent inquiry into the project.[44][45] In February 2022, it was revealed that independent valuations of the completed building project, which includes a hotel, a conference center, and Unite's regional offices, came in at between £27 and £29 million pounds, roughly £70 million less than the project's cost of just under £100 million.[46][47][48] McCluskey defended the building project, describing it as a “sensible investment of members’ money, resulting in a world-class facility that will return an income for our union for generations to come”.[46][47]“

[anonymous-user]

Here we go a bit more interesting

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nadhim-zahaw...

[bitchstewie]

Caddyshack said:

Anti labour will be grr and pro will be ‘nothing to see here’

I don't think it's about being pro or anti is it?

If any political party accepts donations from a business let's say Tesco (random example of a company you'd think is totally bona fide audited clean accounts etc.) and it turned out Tesco had been doing something naughty how much of that is supposed to "transfer" to the political party and any due diligence they should have done?

I don't know how much digging they're reasonably supposed to do.

It doesn't feel the same as the debate about accepting large donations from individuals where there's arguably more of a "sniff test".

And regardless I'd still be quite happy if all political parties had to make clear who sponsors them in big sodding letters or badges like snooker players have to wear.

[Countdown]

Largechris said:

Dear oh dear. I suppose from your point of view let’s hope it’s not Len McCluskey under investigation., wiki:

“In January 2021, Unite's executive counsel convened to discuss cost overruns on a union-funded building project undertaken by Paul Flanagan, a close personal associate of McCluskey; the construction works, which were originally supposed to cost £7 million pounds, had reached a cost of £96.5 million by January 2021, with an estimated £15 million in profits accruing to Flanagan.[42][43] In December 2021, Sharon Graham announced an independent inquiry into the project.[44][45] In February 2022, it was revealed that independent valuations of the completed building project, which includes a hotel, a conference center, and Unite's regional offices, came in at between £27 and £29 million pounds, roughly £70 million less than the project's cost of just under £100 million.[46][47][48] McCluskey defended the building project, describing it as a “sensible investment of members’ money, resulting in a world-class facility that will return an income for our union for generations to come”.[46][47]“

I think I'm struggling to get my point across to you. "One person or a small group of people being corrupt" does not mean the Union is corrupt. You would hope/expect that organisations have sufficient governance processes in place to minimise the risk of fraud and corruption but it still happens.

Arguing that Labour should stop taking donations from the Union because some individuals within the Union committed criminal offences against the Union is an odd argument.