Scandal of LDA's missing millions

Tens of millions of pounds of public money were squandered by Ken Livingstone's development agency, a report says today.

The investigation into the London Development Agency, ordered by Boris Johnson, outlines a string of failings including "ineptitude" and "massive misspending". The Forensic Audit Panel, headed by former financial journalist Patience Wheatcroft, was set up after revelations in the Standard about apparent financial irregularities at the LDA.

Today's report also raises the prospect of a similar investigation into Transport for London.

It calls for the LDA to be stripped of its role in the 2012 Olympics and for £8 million-of cuts across the Greater London Authority. Ms Wheatcroft said: "Our investigations have left us in no doubt that money has been misspent on a massive scale, say tens of millions.

"We're of the view that it was ineptitude rather than corruption that was the biggest blight on the LDA.

"The board failed to ensure the LDA worked effectively. Instead it seemed to have adopted the notion that in many ways the LDA was there to serve as the Mayor's chequebook and that chequebook has been used to write some rather interesting pay-offs to people who have left the LDA.

"It poured money into projects that failed to work out and failed to deliver.

"The LDA's efforts to tackle the problem [unemployment] have been hopelessly flawed and ultimate responsibility for this must lie with the board." She said the panel had been "very nervous" in looking at allegations of misspending by Mr Livingstone's former race and policy adviser Lee Jasper as they were being investigated by police.

Ms Wheatcroft also cited "unusual" spending when giving board member Yvonne Thompson her £17,000 salary for 15 months despite standing down.

Ms Thompson, who once accompanied Mr Jasper to New York on an LDA business trip, quit last year after allegations were made that the African Caribbean Business Network - of which she was president - received funding for projects which it did not deliver.

Another executive, Tony Winterbottom, got a year's sabbatical followed by a £75,000 pay-off and £160,000 into a pension fund and was then given another £20,000 job. The report also highlights:

• A £30,000 project to research London's weather trends in a bid to rival the Met Office.

• A £456,633 contract for street improvements which was not let competitively.

• A lack of checks on groups being awarded cash, with £36,900 given to the European Federation of Black Women Business Owners despite the company being dormant most of the time.

The panel also recommends that the delivery of the Olympics should be taken away from the LDA and the organisation completely reshaped.

Ms Wheatcroft said: "Part of the problem of the LDA was that it tried to do too much." Instead, Ms Wheatcroft suggests the LDA would act as a "strategic commissioner" working with the boroughs and the charity sector.

The LDA last year got a £740 million budget, mainly from City Hall, to promote London's economy.

Mr Livingstone, Manny Lewis, the former chief executive of the LDA and Mary Reilly, the former chairwoman of the board, all refused to appear before the audit panel. Led by Ms Wheatcroft, former editor of the Sunday Telegraph, the panel's members included two Conservative council leaders as well as the Mayor's business adviser. They were Stephen Greenhalgh, leader of Hammersmith & Fulham council, Edward Lister, leader of Wandsworth, Patrick Frederick, chief executive of Aimex International, and Andrew Gordon, head of investigations within the forensic services group of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The report was rubbished by vicechair of the LDA and Labour member of the London Assembly John Biggs. He said: "This is just a bunch of Tory politicians who have seized the opportunity raised by the Lee Jasper affair to rubbish the good works of the LDA. As a board member I'm proud of the board's achievement and believe we've achieved a massive amount of good. The very nature of our work means we work among areas of likely market failure where you won't see a return."

Speaking at the Mayor's question time at City Hall, Mr Johnson also revealed that his predecessor had spent £17.4 million on mayoral consultants in his two terms and that TfL had spent £155 million on technical consultants in just one year. He gave the figures as "an example of excessive spending" under the last regime. Mr Johnson said: "There has been growing public concern about the LDA and that large sums of taxpayers' money are being wasted and therefore I thought it would be a good idea to commission a report. This is to make sure we run things better and make sure it never happens again."


We think this post to the London Evening Standard web site by - Les, middlesbrough, UK
sums it up perfectly

We're continually told that the ethnic minorities are under-represented in society. Not in fraud and crime they're not!

Welcome? to Sout AFFRRICCAA! Take our advice boycott World Cup 2010 for your own safety

It seems our message that South Africa is NOT the place to hold a world cup as it is dangerous and simply cannot cope is finally getting through!

Here is a taste of what football fans can REALLY expect to find greeting them in South Africa when they pour in for World Cup 2010.

Of course we know South Africa should NEVER have been awarded the games but Sepp Blatter had to pay for the Africans support at his one candidate election so they got the World Cup.

BUT of course the PC word coming out of the high up’s in SA says: "crime is not a problem", it is best to remember that you will not keep your job long in SA if you tell people the truth about the place, which is that the country now a 3^rd world shit hole with no public transport, very few safe hotels, is ridden with Violence, AID’s, corruption and anti white sentiment!

The Stadiums are NOT completed and (as we have said here before) WILL NOT be completed in time they never would have been, Africans are sadley incapable of organising anything.

And by the way those who point to the success of the Rugby world cup as a reason to belive in the SA ability to be ready for the FIFA World Cup, what they fail to tell you that those stadiums were built under the white regime and the rugby clubs and the tournament was run and organised by WHITES!

But the area of greatest concern to us is the violence and crime found in all wog countries and South Africa is no exception indeed far from it.

Here are the crime statistics for just one 24 hour period in South Africa. BY any country's standards, these crime statistics would be shameful, let alone a nation about to host one of the world's greatest sporting events

· 50 murders 34,600 by World Cup 2010!

· 55 attempted killings 38,060 by World Cup 2010!

· 99 rapes 68,508 by 2010! That is over three times the figures for the UK so boys take good care of your ladies unless you like white girls with illegitimate half breed kids and aids!!

· 324 robberies 23,6664 by World Cup 2010!

· 575 assaults 39,7900 by World Cup 2010!

· 651 burglaries 45,0492 by World Cup 2010!

· 39 car jackings 26,988 by World Cup 2010!

Well done Sepp Blatter South Africa sounds like a great place to go……………. NOT

Thomas Eastes is chairman of Gun Owners Of South Africa, a body representing 2.5 MILLION people who keep firearms in their home. He said: “I fear a tragedy. The government needs to do something or lives could be lost. “There is a huge criminal element in this country and it’s out of control.

“People are getting shot for a tiny amount of money. “All these criminals will look at the World Cup in 2010 as a wonderful opportunity. There will be hundreds of thousands of visitors with dollars and Pounds and euros.

“The security chiefs say they will have it under control but the football authorities should do surveys with people on the street. “Lies are being told and everyone says the politically correct thing about crime not being a problem in two years’ time. “But in my opinion the police are not capable of defending the people of this country now.”

Motorists are advised, if driving at night, to drive through red lights rather than risk a car-jacking. And driving itself is a danger As there is no public transport (Oh didn't they tell you that?!) means nearly everyone gets behind a wheel (Just look at how they drive here!), and many of them drink. Last year, 11,577 fatal crashes were caused by alcohol.

Every small business has barred windows and panic buttons and gangs regularly bomb cashpoint machines in a bid to rob them.

Yet police insist they will have everything under control for 2010 and that visitors will be safe.

Vice is also so out of control in South Africa that members of the South African government are putting serious thought into legalizing prostitution for the 2010 World Cup, (They might as well the police will be snowed under just trying to stop the muggers and anyway whores will be flooding in from all over Africa) as they know they simply do not have enough police to deal with the huge amount of violence they are expecting to be committed against visitors to World Cup 2010. It should be noted that aids infection amongst African Whores runs at 92%!!! amongst the highest in the world and many have nasty parasitic infections so be careful what you think is a nipple could well turn out to be a maggot!

So our message is if you have to go, keep you trousers up and your pants or you are going to die an embarrassing painful slow death.

Yet South Africa’s shameful crime record is only now triggering alarm bells at football’s governing body, FIFA and there is a good chance that it may yet be hosted by a civilised nation but if they insist on giving it to the sambo's

We say do NOT go to South Africa it IS a third world shit hole that could easily KILL you.

Homosexuality IS a lifestyle choice, NOT a genetic failue OFFICIAL

And it is a group of American lesbians who have blown the one secret that no Homosexual of what ever gender should admit.


NORTH CANTON, Ohio — The Stark County Ohio chapter of The Coalition of Lesbians kicked-off their annual recruitment and pledge drive with its ‘Love Us Instead’ extravaganza this past weekend here at the Hoover Vacuum Convention Center.

The event, which was attended by some 17,000 women, most of whom are straight and in relationships with aggressive and passive-aggressive men, touted a monochromatic festival of light, a Fry Boot fashion show, a bowling tournament and a guest lecture series centered around this year’s national headquarters theme, “We Won’t Kill You Like Men Do.” whilst encouraging straight women to "convert"


So no more bollocks about Homosexual equality please its a lifestyle so there!

When Brown & his Clowns beg for leadeship on street crime we provide it.

"Oh Please help us we dont know what to do " "we simply cannot alienate black & imigrant voters we are PC socialists"

Well done Gordon, we gave you a blueprint for success in the war against street crime yesterday and it seems for once, just once you seem to have listened.

Here is the headline!

Gordon Brown to get more police on the streets by cutting red tape

And here is the reality
it is not all good news though because as usual Labour are only any good with words NOT action.

He also repeated a warning that young people carrying knives would be prosecuted, as annual crime figures showed police recorded about 20,000 serious offences involving knives last year.

The Prime Minister said this morning that the new policing Green Paper would "clear the decks" and cut down on bureaucracy, allowing officers to spend more time tackling crime instead of completing paperwork.

However, a leaked draft of the Green Paper, parts of which have been seen by The Daily Telegraph, include no measures to cut red tape to free up front line officers.

But of course in typical Socialist fashion Circus Labour dont actually follow our advice through to the end to get the win win.

So again we have to send Gormless Gordon a further warning

You will never be a success but if you at least keep listening to us and implementing fully all our advice we can moderate the amount of damage you and your band of fools can inflict upon the UK start taking our medicine now, before it is too late,

We were right all along AGAIN

We said it is Respek e.g fear the "Daddymen" want we have always said it and now courtesy of the Daily Mirror we are proved 100% correct AGAIN.

Fear is the new commodity gangs in London deal in and it will be a long time before the recent escalation in violence is reversed, say experts who work with young people.

So we are correct in our statements that the law needs to be prosecuted as we suggest then they might just "FEAR" us a bit more.

Gordon Brown gets tough on violent crime !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

When he and his criminally negligent cabinet, could no longer hide away from confronting violent crime.

Gormless Gordon our unelected Scotts PM gives us the only thing Labour are reasonably good at,

"a sound byte"

"No Guns"
"No Knives"
"No Gangs"

And as for his usless Home Secretary she denies doing a 180 degree U turn (Thank Christ) on her last brainwave to force the attacker meet the victim in hospital, she really couldn't see the problem could she, don't blame us YOU voted her in.


we say, "No Chance" & "No Idea"

He can go and talk to as many Hoodies as he likes, as long as Circus labour refuse to see that the problem lies with the fact we do not enforce the law in the UK due to Labour dogma and a lack of prison space this can never ever be sorted out.

We do NOT need another "New Labour" initiative we already have laws to deal with street crime It is already illegal to carry an offensive weapon in a public place! this is clearly no deterrent, why? because the YOOT know if caught they will at best have the weapon taken from them and told not too do it again.

At worst they will be given community service which they can evade by refusing to cooperate when and if they do turn up (fact their overseers are too scared of the offenders to force them to comply)

IF they get a custodial sentence they will be out after serving less than 50% of the total sentence.

Hip Hop and Rap glorify violence and misogynist behaviour without censor in the UK! lets get rid of this crap NOW

The Police are under huge pressure not to stop search and arrest those groups who shout so loudly they have become almost untouchable! Yet surprise surprise, it is those self same groups doing most of the stabbing shooting and killing!

in short we have the laws and mechanism to deal with this imported crime wave but the law is not prosecuted to its maximum effect Labour dogma and PC behaviour started allowed this to start Labour dogma and PC behaviour will allow it to continue and grow until the UK is just another third world shit hole and we are well on the way there.


Gordon here is THE solution and it will work.

1. Caught with a knife in public = 10 years hard labour NO remission 2nd offence 20 years hard labour NO remission
   
   
2. Drug Dealing = 20 years hard labour NO remission 2nd offence 30 years hard labour NO remission
   
   
3. Murder = Death Penalty
   
   
4. More Police on the beat and forget about racial balance
   
   
5. Allow the Police complete freedom to stop and search anyone any time regardless of colour creed or Religion
   

When we talk about prison we mean prison, No Laptops, No Mobile phones, No TV in cell, No religeon and real back breaking hard labour 10 hours a day, lets put this worthless flotsum to work repairing the broken down UK after all they broke it!

No one believes you Gordon, you just say the words, you don't know what to do, we all know you do not have a clue, best you and your rabble go now

We have been telling you they are all corrupt

That is why they do not want to help bring down Mugabe, it could all to easily happen to them!

But the Frogs bless them have started to bollocks it up for the greedy bastards..

Private jets, Bugatti cars, a shark-filled aquarium and enough bank accounts to paper the new luxury yacht - the extraordinary capacity of some African leaders and their families for apparent self-enrichment has been laid bare in a French lawsuit over allegedly stolen state money.


Following an inquiry last year by the French fraud body OCRGDF, an anti-corruption campaign group has accused a string of African politicians of plundering vast sums from the often struggling economies of their countries. (we have said a thousand times STOP all aid to Africa)

Inhabitants of Gabon or the Republic of Congo who have ever wondered what happens to their precious oil and mining revenues don't need to look any further than Paris and the French Riviera. The richest parts of France are teeming with homes, cars, boats and other expensive baubles belonging - in practice, at least - to tropical Africa's political elite.

Gabon's President Omar Bongo and President Denis Sassous N'Guesso of the Republic of Congo, together with their associates and relations, are the most frequently cited in the suit, filed by Transparency International France, along with three Gabonese and Congolese citizens.

According to OCRGDF, as of last year, 15 members of Mr Bongo's family had 70 bank accounts in France. The autocratic ruler of the tiny but oil-rich country himself allegedly owns 11 properties in Paris including a mansion in the chic 16th arrondissement worth 19 million euros. He is said to have five more homes in Nice and a Ferrari 612 to buzz in between them.

His son, Ali Bongo Ondimba, allegedly has three expensive cars - a Ferrari 456 GTA, a Mercedes S600 limousine and a Porsche 911 Carrera . By contrast, some 16 members of Mr Sassous N'Guesso's family prefer to concentrate on their collection of bank accounts, between them owning apparently 111 in France alone.

They are also said to have a luxury residence in Paris's chic Avenue Foch, and others in Parisian suburbs such as Courbevoie and Velizy, as well as the Cote d'Azur. But in their capacity to spoil themselves a bit, even the Bongos are outclassed by Teodoro Nguema, son of Equitorial Guineas's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Mr Nguema Jnr allegedly owns a Bugatti Veyron - dubbed the most powerful car in the world - which he bought for 1.1 million euros, as well as a Maserati MC 12 which cost him 709,000 euros.

He also allegedly has a $35 million mansion in Malibu, California, a $34 million private jet and a luxury yacht with an on-board shark aquarium. His president father is also on the list, along with Presidents Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso and José Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola.

"There is little doubt that the fortune under scrutiny could not have been obtained through the salaries and official benefits of the persons concerned", claims Transparency International France. "Even more serious, some of these people are highly suspected of masterminding a huge embezzlement of public funds."

The suit exploits a recent French high court ruling that individuals unable to explain how they paid for properties or a wealthy lifestyle can be investigated. The US Senate recently estimated that 8.5 per cent of Gabon's budget goes unofficially and directly to the family of 72-year-old Mr Bongo, the world's longest-serving leader.

A near identical lawsuit filed last year in France by other anti-corruption groups came to nothing, as no link could be established between the properties and embezzled state funds. While the new suit is also likely to meet the same fate, Transparency International France believes it could pave the way for a subsequent full judicial inquiry.

"There is still resistance in Europe to pursuing African clans (through the courts)", said William Bourdon, a lawyer from an international network of legal experts called Sherpa. "But one day their estate will have to be returned to African citizens," he told Libération newspaper. Since the time of Charles de Gaulle, the "African cell" of the Elysée has kept close, often shadowy ties with Francophone African leaders known as "la FrançAfrique".

Personal ties between French and African leaders bound Paris to friendly regimes which were given protection in exchange for political allegiance, votes at the United Nations and deals with French firms that were lucrative for all sides. The names of Mr Bongo and Mr N'Guesso were frequently cited in recent years in investigations into hundreds of millions of pounds of payments by Elf, the former French state-owned oil group.

Before his election, President Nicolas Sarkozy indicated he wanted to distance himself from long-time dictators like Mr Bongo, calling for a "healthier relationship" with Africa.

But he appears to have changed his tune, sidelining a minister who declared FrançAfrique "dead". Mr Bongo was a guest at the Elysée palace last week. (But in true French style they want justice not at the expense of french interests........ bless!)

Mrs Darwin a "Devout Catholic Lady" .............Oh Please!

This is a beauty; it now turns out the the cheating, lying, thieving wife of so called dead canoeist John Darwin is a "Devout Catholic" who told friends she had chosen to live in Panama because it was "warm and it was a Catholic country"

Well sorry to piss on your bonfire Mrs Darwin, but it has clearly escaped your notice that at No 8: on the Commandments Hot Top 10 is

Thou shalt not steal!



Now call me a stuffy old traditionalist but I was always under the impression that the good old 10 commandments were a cornerstone of the Catholic faith!

and that is to say nothing of No10 on the hell fire 100

You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour. In other words do not even think about nicking......... anything!

I wonder how many hail Mary's the priest gave her when she went to confess the fact she was deceiving her sons, friends neighbours and stealing bundles of cash! But a confession is a confession so no fiery pit of hell for her to worry about!

This woman is a nasty piece of work and her priest must be barking mad, it is therefore crystal clear, Catholicism and Hypocrisy make very comfortable bed fellows.


On the other hand maybe she should run for parliament, she is clearly a natural.

If we cant keep the money.................

Then we wont collect it for you, is the message being sent to central govt over Speed sorry "Safety" Cameras!

Now Local Authorities will no longer keep the revenue collected by their most efficient cash cow the speed camera, it seems they are no longer quite so keen to blanket the country with them, funny that and after all the fuss they made about their SOLE purpose being to cut road deaths!!!!!!!!!

At last the true is out, someone has admitted what we have known all along they are NOTHING more than a tax on motorists

Swindon Borough Council is reviewing its involvement with the local safety camera partnership scheme and considering whether to spend its £400,000-a-year contribution elsewhere.

It follows a change in camera funding rules which means the Treasury now keeps the proceeds of fines from speed cameras

Tory councillor Peter Greenhalgh, head of highways, transport and strategic planning for Swindon, reportedly said the money should be spent on a range of local safety measures.

"These are far more effective than speed cameras which, I feel, are a blatant tax on the motorist," he said.

"They are being used as a cash cow. (We know they are) I do take exception to the positioning of some mobile speed cameras. They are designed to raise revenue.(And that's why you were all so keen to place them everywhere when you could keep it!)

"I think enough is enough. There are much more important things we as a council should do instead of acting as a law enforcement arm of this Government."

A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the funding decision was a local matter for Swindon, but added: "Safety cameras are there to save lives not to make money."

Sure they are, we believe you..................................... NOT

We have always said she was totaly CLUELESS and ..........

She has done NOTHING to prove us wrong!!

We find it hard to find words to express our disbelief at the “proposals” made by our unelected Home secretary Jacqui “Clueless” Smith to "Solve" knife crime in the UK.

To say this woman is out of her depth is an understatement, to say this woman is out of touch with the realities of life in Britain is an understatement, to say this woman has delusions of adequacy is an understatement, to say the British tax payer is NOT getting value for money from Circus Labour is a FACT.

The sensible way to deal with this scourge, incidentally brought to the UK via Hip Hop, Rap and other foreign influences is simple. Build more Jails Bigger jails and put anyone caught with a knife in one for ten years no remission. Bring back chain gangs and make the thugs pay for their time by building roads.

Lets also bring Back SUS stop anyone any time and stuff their sensibilities, of course more blacks will get stopped they are the ones carrying the knives!

But oh no Ms Smiths says "It is simplistic and wrong to pretend that prison is an easy answer to all of society's problems,"

Oh no, this idiot actually believes: visits to A&E wards where people are being treated for knife wounds, meetings the families of stabbing victims, and prison visits to offenders jailed for knife offences. Will have a far bigger effect!!!!!!

Words genuinely fail us, If the scum committing such crime were worried about the victim they would not commit it in the first place, these are not mislead youths, these are drugged up slack jawed slavering indolent sadists to whom gaining a fearsome reputation and the "Respek" of those on their "Turf" is of far greater importance than a human life.

One can just imagine the relief of a hospitalised victim will gain from meeting the local "daddyMan" face to face in the very place he sent him intentionally to enforce his particular brand of "Respek" on his "Turf"!

In addition one can only imagine how "relived" the victim must feel having to live with the fact he or she will have to go back to this vile creatures "Turf" (which lets face it will be just as un Policed as it was before you got stabbed), after being the recipient of a grudging face to face apology. It will be just like telling on the school bully you will just be waiting for the day he takes his revenge!

SMITH you Idiot we do not get 24/7 protection like you we have to face this shit day in day out grow up and get real this is not a Private prep school for young Isabella's in some nice middle class neighbourhood this is Britain the one you and your socialist friends created and saying sorry here does not make it all OK!

These “Genius” measures will be focused particularly on eight "hotspot" police areas - London, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Essex and Thames Valley.

We we can make it much simpler to find the knife carriers, just target any area that has high numbers of Blacks or Asians. We guarantee you will not have enough vans to carry your haul back to the nick.

Britain is being reduced to the level of every other third world shit hole and all because everyone is too scared to say the problem lies with violent niggers and their so called culture. So lets bang the thugs up and get our streets clean again.

We would still, just love to see her trying to back a 4X4 into a tight parking space!!!