The Newly Built Events Complex Aberdeen (TECA) Aberdeen’s replacement exhibition centre, built using finance borrowed from the London Stock on a long term loan, cost £425m to build has been devalued by KPMG and is now worth only £318.7m. A whacking great financial loss from which it doubtful the council will ever recover.
Alex Nicoll the leader of the SNP on the council, said: “It is incredibly concerning that the value of only recently completed property investments have dropped so much in such a short time.
Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden said: “In respect of valuation, it is important citizens look at the council’s total value of assets which the accounts show the council’s net worth is £1.21bn.”
Comment: But the council owe the city of London £1bn
Aberdeen (there is a mafia in Aberdeen) its called “lab-Con”
The city has returned the labour and or Tory party to power in all but one election in the last 20 years and is very much a Unionist party stronghold. In every circumstance domination of the electorate for an extended period of time by parties of a particular leaning leads to an abuse of power and this is very much the case in Aberdeen where the Unionists reign supreme.
In the May 2017 election it was hoped that voters would seriously consider the appalling record of financial and administrative mis-management, abuse of power, rejection of the wishes of the majority of city residents expressed in the Union Gardens proposal referendum and many other insults visited upon voters. There was a genuine hope that the SNP would be given a chance at local government but, yet again the Aberdeen electorate decided to ignore the misdeeds of the City Councillors and returned the Unionists to power.
2005 The Italian Mob (and there is a real Mafia Presence)
Antonio La Torre and Michele Siciliano, brothers of Augusto La Torre, the former head of the powerful crime clan from Mondragone and influential members of the Camorra Mafia, came to Aberdeen in 1984.
They opened the Pavarotti and Sorrento restaurants, expanding into health and fitness centres, import-export food firms, pubs and betting shops in Aberdeen, Dundee, Stirling, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. They and their lieutenants were also involved in dealing in luxury cars.
Their many property deals included buying city council land (College Street) for peanuts, building a car park then selling it on for a massive profit purchasing a city centre building, on the cheap and converting it into flats gaining a six-figure profit.
Expanding their empire, they also set-up a number of phantom companies, in Scotland and Italy enabling bank loan credit guarantees’ providing the finance necessary to purchase building materials, plant machinery, office equipment, computers and huge amounts of wine, pasta and olive oil and other produce from Campania for use in restaurants in Aberdeen and throughout Scotland.
But as soon as the phantom firms got the cash, they were bankrupted and the money was diverted into other accounts. They were both extradited to Italy in 2005 to serve long prison sentences. Disposal details of their massive property and business portfolios has not been released but much of it was sold off before extradition procedures were complete. Much more information here:
(https://kennyfarq.medium.com/a-brush-with-the-neapolitan-mafia-in-aberdeen-e43cd6fdb874)
College Street Car park
2006: Audit Scotland investigated council property sales and identified major deficiencies bordering on fraud.
The report was passed to the Police Fraud Squad for further investigation. They have not yet reported back.
“The most serious comment by independent assessors related to the College Street car park where they concluded that proceeds from sale should have been double the £1.8 million achieved. They concluded that the deal struck by the Council was ‘extremely poor, bordering on negligent’.
(http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/local/2008/nr_080430_aberdeen_property.pdf)
2007 Newly Elected SNP and Liberal Democrat City Council Ask Police to Investigate Potential Fraudulent Sale of Council Property
A police investigation has been ordered into potential fraud surrounding transactions in which Aberdeen city council sold some of its assets for up to £5.5 million below their market value.
Grampian Police confirmed it was called in by the new Liberal Democrat and SNP administration after senior officers requested details of transactions up to 2006.
And a damning report, published by the accounts watchdog, Audit Scotland, revealed “serious deficiencies” in a series of deals in which six council-owned assets were sold for £3.7 million when their maximum potential value was £9.2 million.
The transactions included the sale of land at the Seafield Club and allotments for £685,000 when the maximum potential value was £2,930,000, and the sale of the College Street multi-storey car park for £1.8 million when its potential value was £3,630,000.
The council faces a special hearing by the Accounts Commission into its finances. Read the full blog:
2008 Final Audit Scotland Report Findings:
Over the past three years expenditure by the Labour City Council has been significantly in excess of its budget, giving rise to concern over diminishing reserves leading to the need for a substantial package of savings. Councillors accepted the views of the Controller of Audit, who also identified a reluctance, on the part of some to fully appreciate of the seriousness of the financial difficulties the Council faced.
In regard to the report by the Controller of Audit on the property sales investigation, the Council accepted there were significant procedural shortcomings which would need to be addressed as a matter of priority.
The incoming SNP/LibDem Council was forced to implement a 4 year programme of austerity measures designed to ensure a balanced income and expenditure.
In the 2012 election voters punished the SNP/LibDem Council for imposing stringent cuts over the previous four years and returned Labour/LibDem council to office. Voters have very short memories!! The need to make the cuts was forced on the SNP/LibDem Council by the Auditor mitigating the financial mismanagement of the Unionists.
Redeveloped Aberdeen City Chambers (projected cost £20m Actual cost £140m)
2009: Union Square Development
The College Street car park (built on ground) purchased from the City Council for peanuts, by the Italian brothers, who sold it on for a large mark-up and a car park build, was resold, to Hammerson PLC forming part of the £250 million Union Square regeneration project in the heart of Aberdeen.
The development was built by Miller Construction and included multiple shopping units, a civic square, multi storey car parks and a hotel with conference facilities.
In May 2012 Labour formed a coalition Council Administration. Crockett was elected Council Leader.
Not long after taking charge the Unionist conducted a referendum seeking the electorate’s views on a city centre development. The outcome failed to return a “no” vote and was set aside by Barney Crockett who said “I am not bound by the views of the voters. Aberdeen Council business is restricted to local policy issues and these are not subject to the whims of referenda.”
In 2014 Crockett circulated a Unionist political letter, (using Council finance) promoting “Better Together” rejecting independence. It said: said, “Aberdeen is stronger now and will be stronger in the future – as a partner within the United Kingdom.”
He failed to note that Aberdeen’s safety, (from the policies of Westminster politicians) is guaranteed by oil and energy whilst the rest of Scotland gets weaker suffering the ravages of increasingly right wing governments, based in the city/state of London whose only interest in Scotland is the revenue it gathers from its colony to the North
Barney Crockett epitomizes everything that is wrong with the Unionists. The public votes but the Con/Lab council decides. It is their way or the highway. What a sad city led by a bunch of self serving bunch of incompetent opportunists. Read the full report:
Barney and friend Unionists together in Harmony
2014: Mafia Tightens Its Grip on Aberdeen
Aberdeen is a “mafia Stronghold” for a notorious crime syndicate which controls swathes of the city’s economy, according to a new report from the European Union organisation “Transcrime” who advised that the Naples-based Camorra crime organisation, linked with many killings, in Europe maintains a stronghold in catering, retail, transport finance and property sectors in Aberdeen.
An Unconcerned Barney Crockett said; “I think the attraction of Aberdeen is that they can swap over a lot of (laundered) money without trace, because Aberdeen is a thriving business environment. But I am totally confident that there is no involvement in public works of any description.”
Comment:
Dream on Barney!!!What about the sale of city property at knock-down prices to Antonio La Torre and Michele Siciliano.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/mafia-tightens-its-grip-on-aberdeen-1-3516206
caltonjock 
