In late December 2017 the Scottish Government introduced an untried and unauthorised by the UK Government, procedure for receiving and resolving complaints of harassment against former Minsters.
Less than 2 weeks later, in January 2018, two complainants came forward with allegations of harassment against the former first minister Alex Salmond under the new rules.
Allegations were made that there had been “malice aforethought” by Nicola Sturgeon who had ordered the immediate implementation of the new procedures on the day they were completed by a senior civil servant.
It was also alleged that the complainants had been coached by senior civil servants and prevented from formally complaining since they were held back waiting for the new rules to come into force. A view strengthened by the fact that no effort had been made by the two complainants to register allegations against the formerFirst Minister in the previous four years. The complainants alleged incidents had occurred in 2013 (four years before).
James Hynd: Head of Cabinet, Parliament and Governance Division, Scottish Government was a key figure at the start of an alleged review and update of the Scottish Government policy on handling harassment complaints.
At the outset his review included any incidents involving current Ministers but this was then extended adding former Ministers, even if they were no longer in the employ of the Government or State.
Mr Hynd’s contribution to the process commenced on 1 November 2017 and required him to bring forward new procedures, if required, and he did so.
His commitment eventually required him to compile a total of eight draft procedures, in reponse to senior civil servants and the First Minister’s, Special Adviser suggestions.
The First Minister’s, Special Adviser, who insisted on being involved was provided with copies of drafts and in discussion with the civil servants, advised changes.
The Special Adviser was personally recruited by the First Minster and is a political appointee who supports the Minister with political advice and expertise.
Special Advisers are are exempt from the civil service’s obligation of political impartiality.
07 November 2017: Hynd, met with senior civil servant colleagues Richards and MacKinnon. At her request MacKinnon said the nw procedures would have include a section on how to deal with harassment complaints against former Ministers. She tabled a “routemap” of a draft policy she had prepared for application to any allegations of misconduct against former Ministers and proposed it should be included in the revised procedures being prepared by Hynd Hynd was not happy advisedhe would need to seek legal opinion before doing so.
08 November 2017: Hynd delivered the first draft procedure Referring to his work and that of MacKinnon he said that “neither of the pathways involving Ministers look right”.
13 November 2017: Cabinet Secretary James Hynd wrote to senior civil servants about sexual harassment allegations against current Ministers:
“We would need to alert Sturgeon to the fact that a complaint had been received against one of her Ministers and to take her mind about how she wished it to be handled.”
15 November 2017: Hynd wrote a second email, this time to Evans private secretaries, commenting on a suggestion that complaints against Ministers might be resolved by informal means without the need for Sturgeon to be involved: “I am not at all sure that this … will be acceptable to Sturgeon either generally or in the specific context of sexual harassment. Especially for the latter I think she will want to know straightaway if a complaint against a Minister has been received and will want to decide how it should be treated.”
There is, then, no ambiguity cancelling out the slightest plausible argument that Evans or any of her fellow civil servants could possibly have thought that it was acceptable for them to keep Sturgeon in the dark about any allegation of sexual harassment against any of her current Ministers.
Why then would any of them think it would be acceptable not to inform Sturgeon of allegations against her mentor and closest friend of thirty years? Just doesn’t add up !!!!
16 November 2017: A copy of the draft policy was forwarded to the UK Government’s Cabinet Office in Westminster for approval.
17 November 2017: Hynd circulated to the Scottish Government civil service senior management team, and Lloyd (first sight, at her request) a second draft procedure titled “Handling of sexual harassment complaints involving current or former ministers.”
17 November 2017: Approval was not forthcoming. Instead the response expressed grave concerns about implications for politicians throughout the UK if the Scottish Government would be permitted to act in isolation from the other governments of GB and Northern Ireland introducing a process for complaints about ministers and former ministers which had not been universally approved.
The cabinet Office instructed that the policy changes should be deferred until such time as the other governments had completed their own reviews.
Reference was also made to the unfairness of the revised policies which demanded standards of personal conduct for Scottish politicians much in excess of those for civil servants which had remained unchanged. Double standards were not acceptable. The document was unfit for introduction.
Afternote: The Westminster “Cabinet Office” exposed the hypocrisy of the intent behind the proposed changes and rightly blocked the proposals.
17 November 2017: Somers, Evans and Lloyd held a meeting at which they discussed the progress of the new procdure. A record of the discussion was not retained.
17 November 2017: Hynd forwarded the Cabinet Office response to Sturgeon’s Principle Private Secretary (PPS), John Somers, who replied:
“Oh dear, I did wonder if that would be their reaction. Not sure how long their review will take but Sturgeon and Evans are keen to resolve quickly and discuss on Tuesday. I suspect we don’t have a policy on former civil servants. But we are looking at this in the context of the overall review of policies and the justification for having something about Ministers is the action that Parliament is taking in light of allegations about MSP conduct which includes a recent SG Minister?”
The Holyrood Inquiry
Questioned about the matter at the Holyrood Inquiry Hynd said: “Sturgeon was keen to take national leadership on the matter and delaying implementation of the new procedure was not an option for consideration.”
Personal Adviser Lloyd who was prevented from attending the inquiry by John Swiiney submitted a written statement (not for questioning) to the Holyrood Inquiry in which she wrote that the inclusion of herself in the circulation of the draft procedures created a requirement to identify and amend the ministerial code if necessary since the code was Sturgeon’s responsibility. But the Ministerial Code and the proposed complaints procedure was the business of the Civil Service and Lloyd had no legitimate input.
24 November 2017: 1315-1400: Lloyd, Somers, Hynd and a member of the Evans office, attended a meeting to further discuss the content of the “instruction from Sturgeon” and to establish and agree clear lines of responsibility between Sturgeon and Evans.
A second purpose was to reword the draft procedure inserting changes designed to prevent Sturgeon from stopping Evans, who had a duty of care to civil servants, from investigating a sexual harassment complaint made by a civil servant against a minister if Evans judged there was something to investigate.
Additional input from Lloyd included the view that it was essential that Sturgeon should be made aware of an investigation or allegation into a serving minister, before the event, in order to determine if, under the ministerial code, that minister could remain in post whilst an investigation was conducted.
27 November 2017: Hynd to Richards. Have looksee at the next draft procedure. All hands to the deck!!! Why so much urgency over one man??
The question for Grok is. Clearly the procedure was being put in place with one man in mind. What man is Hynd referring to?
What do a Maltese academic, a Swiss lawyer, and a fugitive Kazakh oligarch have to do with each other? A lot, according to the Mueller investigation, which established that corruption is live and well in the world of financers and politicians.
On October 30, 2017, Special Counsel, Robert Mueller revealed that former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos had admitted making false statements to FBI agents about contacts he had with Russian citizens while working for the Trump campaign in 2016.
What unravelled was a series of events so huge it covered international espionage, off-shore banking, dodgy real estate deals, mobsters, money laundering, poisoned dissidents, computer hacking, and the most shocking election in American history.
The character that allegedly provided the snake oil that fuelled the political mirage was Maltese, Professor Joseph Mifsud of the London Academy of Diplomacy whose circle of colleagues included financial fixers backed by oligarths operating out of Cyprus and other places.
This article highlights one of his colleagues an influential mover and shaker – Dr Stephan Roh
2004: Dr Stephan Roh, established a law firm, RoH Attorneys at Law, with Offices in; Zurich, Zug, Berlin, London and Hong Kong. (www.rohlaw.com). The firm’s sales pitch proferred that clients would be assured of optimal solutions suited to their demands in law, banking legislation, financial markets and international trading.
2005: Roh purchased a small British nuclear firm called Severnvale Nuclear Services Ltd. Under its previous owners, the company’s turnover had been £42k a year. Within three years, annual turnover increased to over £24 million, despite having only two employees. Roh later renamed the company Severnvale Nuclear Services Ltd based in Bristol. Links to the Clinton inspired Uranium1 scandal.
2006: Roh founded a number of Cyprus based companies whose investments were mainly in Russia, through an actively managed concentrated and hedged portfolio of different asset classes including, securities, real estate and venture capital.
P & C GLOBAL GOLD & NATURAL RESOURCES FUND LTD FINDUSTRIA LTD R & B RUSSIA INVESTMENT FUND LTD FILTAR CO. LTD ARAMITE HOLDINGSLTD BRS FAMILY OFFICELTD DISTANT HOLDINGS LTD ALMAGEN LTD FRIANTO TRADING LTD R & B SELECTED STRATEGIES INVESTMENT FUND LTD EAST STAR DIVERSITY FUND LTD (cover for the involvement of Russian Oligarch Gleb Fetisov. Financial backing from Centre Invest Capital Partners)
Why Cyprus? Freedom of movement afforded opportunities for Oligarths and other financially well off former eastern bloc countries to transfer their wealth to and take up partial residence in Cyprus where banking was not tightly regulated.
Residence in Cyprus was attractive since a capital investment in a property and 6 monthly residence annually or thr purchase and retention of Cypriot bonds to a value in excess of around £2 million allowed incomers to apply for and benefit from the dual nationality of European citizenship.
An example: A Russian, who purchased a substantial property, would be able to gain a euro passport and transfer his company to Cyprus where it would benefit from a tax free investment income for many years with the added benefit that all matters financial would be retained in Cyprus in compliance with his tax residency status. But did they really move to Cyprus? Not always. Who checked? Anyways; 2000 passports and inward investment of £5 Billion spelt success for the policy.
2006: Roh founded, International Legal Services (ILS) and the Energy Consulting Group (ECG) – both registered in Hong Kong. Mission statements said the companies provided international legal, financial and fiduciary support and energy services to the energy industry worldwide including crude oil, gas & gas products, refining, nuclear, petrochemicals and power generation industries. Its people included; Georgy Gomshiashvili, Thierry Pastor, (Moscow Office), Konstantin Danilov, Zhanna Rais, Daniel Schröder, Gert-Rainer Neumann and Alekseeva Kseniya
Ablyazof
2009: Roh founded the R&B Investment Group (http://www.rbinvestgroup.com) a London based management and business consulting firm, located in the heart of Mayfair. The sales pitch said that it provided company management and advisory services to an international clientele through its subsiduary companies. Its funds were registered in Cyprus, within the European Union jurisdiction and were subject to European regulations and laws guaranteeing a high degree of investor protection.
Its companies included;
ABN AMRO, (Zurich) providers of portfolio management, custody, and fiduciary transaction services and investment advice. In addition, it provided securities transaction services for private and institutional customers and currency dealing.
Marmite Capital Ltd (Zurich) independent asset managers whose core competences included portfolio management and advisory investment.
R&B Financial Services Ltd, (Zurich) Provision of asset management services and on a trust basis, the acquisition, management and sale of participations in other companies of all kinds at home and abroad as well as related investments, corporate finance, borrowings, loans issued to related parties or to third parties. Services such as consulting and business support for the establishment and maintenance of business and trade relations and the exchange of business and finance for trade and investment in related fields.
The Russia Investment Fund. Financial analysis and advice through: Renaissance Capital, (Rencap) a premier Russian investment house based in Moscow and Cyprus. Co-Chief Executive Officer Ruslan Babaev. Rencap provided a full range of investment banking products and services, including equity and debt sales and trading, corporate advisory, capital raising, research, structured solutions and derivatives. Clients included corporations, governments, institutional investors and individuals.
2010: Roh’s links to Kazak Embezzler Ablyazof revealed, Read this article for briefing about his crimes:
2010: Investigators located an Ablyazov owned storage unit in London and searched it. They recovered 25 boxes of documents and hard drives that revealed the vast scope of Ablyazov’s offshore empire, including listings of hundreds of interconnected shell companies.
Roh was listed as a director with at least 25 companies mainly registered in offshore financial havens of the British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands.
The 25 firms were also linked to the Kazakh lawyer and human rights activist Bota Jardemalie, a former senior manager with Ablyazov’s bank who fled the country with him. Interviewed in Belgium where she was granted asylum in 2013 she said that Ablyaxov was a political ally but didn’t mention their business relationship.
2013: The High Court in London issued a receivership order on the 25 companies and added Roh’s law business in 2014. The Court has since added another 600+ companies to the receivership order, “on the basis that there is good reason to believe that they are all in Ablyazov’s ultimate beneficial ownership.”
Roh was never just a peripheral figure in many large schemes involving billions of dollars and hundreds of companies and the aforementioned 25 companies were not the only link between he and Ablyazov.
2016: the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) claimed that a decade earlier Ablyazov had used a series of offshore entities to invest in an entertainment complex and hotel in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, using his bank’s funds. What wasn’t reported was the involvement of Daniel Schroeder, a senior lawyer in Roh’s law firm. The project, valued at around $50 million was financed by an Ablyzov company, Glintmill Investments, of which Schroeder was a director controlling 70% of the company
2016: Roh’s association with Ablyazov included a Dubai-based British accountant named Eesh Aggarwal who was listed as a financial advisor loyal to Ablyazov. It was alleged that Aggarwal handled about half a billion dollars of Ablyazov’s money through his son-in-law, Ilyas Khrapunov.
2018: The High Court ordered Khrapunov to pay over $500 million in damages for conspiring with Ablyazov to breach the freezing order. The judgment found that starting in 2011 Khrapunov had hired Aggarwal to manage $500 million of Ablyazov’s assets.
2013: “Beron” an Aggarwal company agreed to transfer $2 million to a company controlled by Georgy Gomshiashvili, a senior lawyer at Roh’s firm. Gomshiashvili, who was born in Russia, was first introduced to Aggarwal by Peter Sztyk, who was married to Ablyazov’s close confidante Jardemalie. Roh said that neither he nor his law firm had been involved in any of Khrapunov’s US dealings and investments.
2012: Roh had become entangled with Ablyazov the business tycoon who was guilty of money laundering on a massive scale. Evidence showed that Roh companies and his legal and business partners were used to move assets and funds belonging to Ablyazov and his close associates. All at a time when legal proceedings against Ablyazov were ongoing and his assets were subject to multiple freezing orders in the US and UK.
2012: R&B Investment Group, was also linked to Ablyazov through business with FM, a Marshall Islands-registered entity. In a contempt judgement a British court said Ablyazov lied when he denied being the beneficial owner of shares in the company and it should have been subject to a freezing order. Documentation revealed a 2006 transfer of £20 million from FM to R&B Investment Group the sole shareholder of which was Roh.
2013: Roh formed “Inverhold”. In 2019 he renamed it “No Vichok Ltd” following the Salisbury incident in which an alleged Novichok nerve agent was used to poison Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The business of the company is not known.
2014: Roh purchased Rome based, Link Campus University. The Roh strategy for the university was to widen its base embracing internationalization, gaining a place for it on the stock market through the establishment of long term agreements with leading international universities and a major investment partner.
An agreement was signed with the Lomonosov University of Moscow, one of the most prestigious Russian universities aimed at developing scientific and educational cooperation and providing for the opening in Rome of the ” Centre for Science and Education Lomonosov.” It is expected that other partnerships will include UK and US Universities before the end of 2016.
Drake Global Ltd, a UK investment company registered in the British Virgin Islands Islands evaluated the new venture at 50 million euro and acquired 5%. a percentage sharing scheduled to increase to 49% before April 2017. Roh stated: “Rome will be the first step, but the intent is to open the Link Campus University other locations around the world, from Hong Kong.” (http://linkinternational.eu/)
2016: there were 25 international partnerships between Link Campus, in Rome and other universities.
Russian partnerships: Lomonosov Moscow State University. Kuban University of Physical Education, Sport & Tourism. Kaliningrad State Technical University. Sholokhov Moscow State University for Humanities. Ural State University of Economics. Baikal State University of Economics and Law. Saint Petersburg State University of Services and Economics.
Other partnerships: LSE Enterprise. Princess Sumaya University of Technology (Amman, Jordan). Nyenrode Businesss Universiteit (Holland). University of Murcia & Cartagena (Spain). London Academy of Diplomacy (UK). University of Haifa (Israel). Mediterranean University of Albania (Albania). Beirut Arab University (Lebanon). El Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario (Colombia). University of East Anglia (UK). The Italian American Institute, Queens College (USA). Koblenz- Landau University (Germania). International Institute of Management IMI –Nova (Moldova). Technická Univerzita v Kosiciach – Kosice (SK). Universität Koblenz – Landau (DE). Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej w Lublinie – UMCS – Lublin (PL). St. Kliment Ohridski – Sofia (BG). Universidade do Algarve – Faro (PT).
2014: Roh became a visiting lecturer at the London Academy of Diplomacy.
2016: Roh founded the London Centre for International Law And Diplomacy Ltd. Previously listed under the name of Global Global the company was re badged on 16 Feb 2016 and located in London, replacing the London Academy of Diplomacy, after it closed. Business purposes included; other education not elsewhere classified. Mifsud was appointed, Convenor and Director for International Strategic Development. Papadopoulos was appointed, Director for International Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law. The company was renamed, “Checkpoint News Limited.” in 2019.
Roh and his Russian-born wife, Olga, have homes in Switzerland, Monaco, London and Hong Kong. And then there is a derelict castle in Scotland – buying it made Stephan and Olga the Baron and Baroness of Inchdrewer.
Information summarised from publications posted on-line by a number of sources including: Buzzfeed, Atlantic, Real Clear Investigations, Forensic News and other blogs.
2012: Mukhtar Ablyazov was a co-founder of the political party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan in 2001. He was jailed in 2002 in Kazakhstan, but was pardoned in 2003 and spent the next two years in Russia. He then returned to Almaty, Kazakhstan’s commercial capital, where he led BTA Bank until its nationalisation in 2009. Over the next three years he embezzled billions from the Bank and evaded justice when he left the country and was granted granted asylum in Britain. Legal action was taken against Ablyazov in London by the BTA bank but he failed to disclose his assets and was found guilty of contempt of court in London. He was sentenced to 22 months in prison but absconded and left the UK was given a 22-month prison sentence but instead left the UK. The high court in London authorised the sale of three “luxury UK properties” belonging to him, as part of the asset recovery procedure. In total, English courts considered 11 separate legal proceedings against Ablyazov, relating to sums totalling around $6bn (£3.7bn) making it the highest-value fraud case to have been heard in an English Court. After leaving Britain, Ablyazov and his family spent time in Latvia, Switzerland and Italy. He was arrrested in Cannes, France in July 2013. The tale of woe he spun to the French courts included a defence that the accusations against him were politically driven and a blatant attempt to criminalise legitimate business transactions. Kazak authorities rejected his story and alleged that an audit had revealed a massive fraud had been perpetrated against the bank by Ablyazov, its former chairman, In January 2014 a French court ruled that Ablyazov should be extradited to Russia or Ukraine.
However, in December 2016, France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, canceled the extradition order, on the ground that Russia had a political motive in making the extradition request. Ablyazov was subsequently released from the Fleury-Mérogis Prison and was believed to reside in Paris. The UK High Court of Justice has twice issued arrest warrants on Ablyazov, most recently on 25 July 2019, and extended to 22 months a court-ordered detention originating in 2012 for a contempt of court judgement. In September 2020, Ablyazov obtained the status of political refugee in France. On 9 December 2022, CNDA finally deprived Ablyazov of political asylum in France. He appealed the decision and remains in France.
The BTA Bank & the City of Almaty continued their fight for justice and in June 2024 gained the support of an American Jury sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York when it returned a verdict in their favor on all claims against Felix Sater, Bayrock Group, Inc., Global Habitat Solutions, and MeM Energy Partners LLC. Punitive damages were awarded against Sater as punishment for his particularly morally culpable conduct. In total the jury awarded the plaintiffs more than $32,000,000, including interest—a figure well in excess of what they asked for in compensatory damages.
The trial, which began on 10 June 2024, involved overwhelming evidence of Mukhtar Ablyazov’s fraud on BTA Bank and, for the first time in a Western court, Viktor Khrapunov’s fraud on the City of Almaty. As the evidence presented during the course of the trial demonstrated, Ablyazov abused his position of power at BTA to orchestrate billions of dollars in fake loans, ultimately causing the bank—which at the time of the revelation of Ablyazov’s fraud was Kazakhstan’s third-largest—to fail.
The trial was also the City of Almaty’s first opportunity (with the assistance of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan) to demonstrate to an American jury the fraud perpetrated by former mayor Viktor Khrapunov, who abused his position of power to privatize state-owned land and sell it for below-market prices to companies controlled by him or his wife—and in some cases, ultimately to companies controlled by Mukhtar Ablyazov. Viktor Khrapunov’s fraud caused the people of Almaty more than $300 million in losses, in addition to resulting in various parcels of land in major urban centers to go undeveloped.
The trial evidence demonstrated that the money stolen by Ablyazov and Viktor Khrapunov was commingled, and Ilyas Khrapunov—Viktor’s son and Ablyazov’s son-in-law—was charged with laundering a large portion of it. Ilyas, just 23 at the time, turned to Felix Sater to assist him in laundering the stolen money into the United States.
Sater, who the trial evidence demonstrated was convicted of assault in 1993 and racketeering in 2009—including predicate acts of securities fraud and money laundering—helped Ilyas invest more approximately $40 million of the stolen funds into the United States, including in multiple real estate projects and at least two private equity investments. One of those private equity investments was also used by Sater to fraudulently obtain an investment visa for Ilyas’s sister, Elvira Kudryshova. Bayrock Group, Inc. and Global Habitat Solutions are companies wholly-owned by Sater, which he used to further hide the stolen money. MeM Energy Partners LLC, a company wholly-owned by Mendel Mochkin, was also responsible for helping Sater to invest the stolen money in the U.S. financial system.
Slater worked undercover for the CIA
Over the course of the approximately three-week trial, the jury heard testimony from a variety of witnesses, including former employees of UKB-6 – the division within the bank during Ablyazov’s tenure responsible for the fraud – as well as American investors who dealt in the stolen funds, individuals involved in the money laundering scheme, and a variety of experts in forensic accounting, fraud and money laundering, real estate, immigration, and handwriting analysis. The jury was also presented the testimony of the key co-conspirators, including Gennady Petelin, who was held out as the legitimate source of the money being invested, Ilyas Khrapunov, who oversaw the U.S. investments, Elvira Khrapunova, who was inserted as the nominal owner of various companies to disguise its true ownership, and from Viktor Khrapunov and Mukhtar Ablyazov themselves.
Sater and Mochkin also testified at length, and were cross-examined over the course of three days by BTA’s long-time U.S. counsel at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. During the course of that examination, both Sater and Mochkin admitted that they invested the funds despite knowing about the allegations of fraud against Ablyazov and Khrapunov; despite knowing about the judgments and worldwide freezing orders entered by the English High Court of Justice; and despite knowing about Ablyazov’s criminal contempt sentence in England and his subsequent arrest in France. Sater and Mochkin also admitted that they assisted Ablyazov, Ilyas Khrapunov, and Ablyazov’s long-time “main man” Peter Salhas in trying to attack the legitimacy of the English judgments and freezing orders, including by advancing a false conspiracy theory about corruption in the English courts and by suggesting a propaganda campaign that involved using an army of avatars to create false social media interest in stories favorable to Ablyazov.
In returning a verdict in favor of the City of Almaty and BTA Bank today, the jury necessarily rejected their testimony and concluded that they knowingly laundered money stolen by Ablyazov from BTA Bank and by Viktor Khrapunov from the City of Almaty. The jury also rejected Sater’s defense that he had been released. The trial evidence demonstrated that Sater concealed his involvement with a consultant to obtain that release. The jury deliberated for less than half a day, reflecting the overwhelming strength of the evidence presented by the City of Almaty and BTA Bank.
Just hours before the start of trial, two other defendants—Daniel Ridloff and RRMI-DR LLC—settled the claims against them, agreeing to return to Almaty and BTA all of the stolen money that they received. At BTA and Almaty’s request, Judge Koeltl entered judgement against RRMI-DR. A seventh defendant, Ferrari Holdings LLC, is in default; in light of today’s verdict, BTA and Almaty will be seeking judgment against it, as well.
Matthew L. Schwartz, Chairman-elect and Managing Partner of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and counsel to the City of Almaty and BTA, said: “Once again, an American jury has listened to the overwhelming evidence of Mukhtar Ablyazov’s fraud on BTA Bank and returned a unanimous verdict against his co-conspirators. And today, for the first time, an American jury also unanimously returned a verdict in favor of the City of Almaty for the fraud perpetrated by Viktor Khrapunov. The American jury system is the gold standard for international justice, and today the jury spoke clearly. We are privileged to have been able to present this evidence to a U.S. jury, and are thrilled with the verdict in favor of our clients, including the jury’s imposition of punitive damages for the deliberate and particularly morally culpable conduct of Felix Sater. We thank the jury for its careful attention to the evidence.”
This is the second time in less than two years Boies Schiller Flexner has secured a unanimous jury verdict for BTA Bank in claims against Ablyazov’s co-conspirators. Today’s verdict follows a 2022 verdict in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, also after a jury trial, against Triadou SPV S.A., a company controlled by Ilyas Khrapunov. During the course of those proceedings, BTA and Almaty successfully demonstrated that Ablyazov, Ilyas Khrapunov, and Viktor Khrapunov disobeyed court orders, destroyed evidence, and refused to make required disclosures. As a result, various judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered numerous orders sanctioning Ablyazov and the Khrapunovs, and ultimately held Ablyazov and Ilyas Khrapunov in contempt. (BBC)
Followers of Mueller’s torturous investigation will remember the uncovering of a member of the team, FBI attorney, Kevin Clinesmith who was guilty to the felony of doctoring and tampering with evidence then lying under oath to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) a body formed to monitor and provide judiciary decisions on events arising from the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.
John Durham’s sentencing recommendation of imprisonment for Clinesmith was rejected by the trial Judge, James Boasberg who discharged the guilty party with a slap on the wrist, a decision that dismayed and disappointed the press and many other observers. Some even had the temerity to outrageously suggest the Judge was in on the conspiracy to overthrow the 2016 President Trump led Government US government. Surely not!!!??
2 Mar 2016: “Walter Mitty” character – George Demetrios Papadopoulos yearned for political stardom – The FBI provided the opportunity
Born in Chicago, he graduated from DePaul University in 2009 with a degree in political science and government.
Richard Farkas, a Russian politics professor at the University, on discovering that his former student was one of Trump’s few foreign policy advisers said: “he studied for a bachelor’s degree in political science. All the classes I taught during my tenure would’ve centred on Russia. His expertise was virtually non-existent. It was thin and embellished. Lots of young people, when they aspire to get close to a campaign, exaggerate their experience. George did that in spades and it was the talk of the department here. I’ve been really generally embarrassed by the fact that I don’t have a lot to share, my classes were 20 to 25 and he was invisible even in a class that size.”
After graduating, he enrolled at, “University College, London School of Public Policy” where in 2010 he gained a “Masters of Science” degree in security studies. Returning to the US he was employed by the Hudson (right wing think tank) Institute, first as an unpaid intern then as a research assistant to a senior fellow at the institute from 2011-2014.
In November 2015 there was a terrorist attack on Paris, France and in the days following every Republican presidential candidate began frantically scrambling to hire experts to bulk up their campaign’s foreign policy credentials. All of the of the Republican foreign policy establishment was working for the front runners, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.
Barry Bennett, Campaign Manager, for Republican candidate, Ben Carson recalled: “It was utter and total desperation to find people.” So when a resume from an unknown young man named George Papadopoulos arrived, unsolicited, at the Carson campaign headquarters, Bennett gave it more attention than it deserved and hired him.
Papadopoulos brief period as an advisor to the Carson campaign passed without note. Armstrong Williams, who served in various roles in Carson’s campaign, said: “After the Paris terrorist attack, Barry Bennett and his deputy Lisa Coen thought we had to have substance so they had this hiring spree, employing all these people to show we had foreign policy experts, Papadopoulos was one of those people.” He was paid $8,500 for his work in December 2015 and January 2016, and then received only a partial salary, $2,125, in February, when he left the campaign.
Bennett resigned from the campaign in December 2015 and within two months, most of those he had hired were let go due to restructuring and cuts. No one in the Carson campaign remembers much about Papadopoulos, perhaps in part because he worked remotely from Chicago, Bennett said. “If there was any work output, I never saw it.
05 Mar 2016: George Papadopoulos joins the Trump campaign
Up to “Super Tuesday,” 1 March 2016, the Trump campaign had been a largely family affair with little external input or support from the Republican Party and he was lagging in the polls.
But when the swingometer shifted in Trump’s favour there was a realization that “Team Trump” was devoid of competent foreign policy advisors and this generated an urgent scramble to compile a legitimate list of experienced people as the media and those in political circles kept pressuring the campaign to release names.
According to Trump campaign spokesman, Sam Clovis, then a policy advisor, he urgently put together a “team” (including Papadopoulos) so that Trump could release names in an attempt to “at least shut up” the critics.
During the campaign, Clovis defended the team he had compiled for Trump, saying that “these are people who work for a living” who have “real world” experience, and that “if you’re looking for show ponies, you’re coming to the wrong stable.”
But to this day, some senior staff in the Trump White House blame Clovis for recruiting staff without due diligence, saddling Trump with the incompetent Papadopoulos.
Olga Vinogradova
08 Mar 2016: Opportunist Professor Mifsud offers Papadopolous access to Putin
Mifsud’s interest was sparked after being told by Papadopolous, who was then living in London, that he had been appointed to the Trump campaign team as an advisor. They met in Italy on 14 March 2016 and again in London 24 March 2017. At the second meeting Mifsud was accompanied by a woman who, according to Papadopolous, was introduced to him as Olga Vinogradova a relative of Vladimir Putin. Following the meeting Papadopolous emailed Trump campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski advising that he had discussed with Olga Vinogradova the possibility of arranging; “a meeting between Trump’s campaign team and the Russian leadership to discuss US – Russia ties under President Trump.”
Lewandowski told him he had done “great work” and to keep them informed. Around a week after Papadopolous attended a campaign team meeting in Washington at which he touted his connections and proposed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Putin. Jeff Sessions dismissed the proposal “out of hand” declaring it to be a non-starter.
But, by 11 April, 2016, ignoring the Session’s directive, Papadopolous, Mifsud and Vinogradova had established an email chain in which Papadopolous continued to seek a meeting for himself in Russia to discuss foreign policy. To which Mifsud had replied; “This is already been agreed. I am flying to Moscow on the 19th of April for a Valdai meeting, plus other meetings at the Duma.”
Papadopolous next met with Mifsud for breakfast and a briefing at a London hotel on 26 April, 2016 at which Mifsud, told Papadopolous he had learned that the “Russians had obtained ‘dirt’ on then-candidate Clinton” in the form of “emails of Clinton… they have thousands of emails.” It is not clear which tranche of Clinton’s emails Mifsud was referring to but in the month of April 2016, a hacker group known as “Fancy Bear” had breached the network defences of the “Democratic National Committee”, a fact not released to the public in the US until 22 July 2016. Mifsud’s info provision had to have been obtained at the time he was in Russia!!!
So there were 2 hacking incidents. WikiLeaks, who denied any connection with the Russian government, had, on 16 March, 2016 already published a searchable archive of Clinton emails from her private server obtained, the group explained, through the “Freedom of Information Act”.
Papadopolous believed the new information would be valuable to the Trump campaign and he submitted a second “meet the Russian’s” proposal to the Trump campaign team leaders. Which was dismissed. A few days later Olga Vinogradova emailed Papadopoulos; “we are all very excited by the possibility of a good relationship with Mr. Trump. The Russian federation would love to welcome him but only once his candidature is officially announced.” Papadopoulos emailed Mifsud on 30 April 2016: “it’s history making if it happens,” thanking him for his: “critical help.”
Trump campaign meeting
Mifsud was catfishing the inept Papadopoulos who loved the intrigue
A few weeks after, a contact, allegedly Ivan Timofeev, the Programme Director of the Valdai Club Foundation Council, spoke with Papadopoulos over Skype about laying the groundwork for a meeting between the Trump campaign team and officials in Moscow.
Ever keen Papadopoulos persistently emailed members of Team Trump seeking authority reach out to individuals he believed had high-level Russian government connections and able to provide the campaign with damaging information about Hillary Clinton.
In August 2016, at a meeting in Washington, DC, he told the team his connections that could help arrange a meeting between then-presidential candidate Trump and President Putin.
Paul Manafort and Sam Clovis praised Papadopoulos work ethic, but a wary Manfort advised it would be inappropriate for Trump to attend any meetings. He then sent an email to associate Rick Gates firmly rejecting the idea of Trump making a trip to Russia. Saying; “We need someone to communicate forcefully that DT will not be doing any trips or meetings with Putin. It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send the wrong signal.”
Months passed but the “history making” meeting was never convened. Papadopoulos had been catfished and conned
Jumping around a bit
The meeting in a hotel in Italy in March 2016 between Mifsud and Papadopoulos was between associates, not a first time meet as claimed by the FBI. Mifsud served as convenor and Director for “International Strategic Development” in the London Centre for International Law Practice (LCILP) in 2016. and the LCILP’s director for “International Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Law” from February to April 2016 was George Papadopoulos.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Papadopoulos hoped that Putin’s “niece” would introduce him to the Russian ambassador in London. A spurious allegation since Putin does not have one. Information that could have been found in less than a minute through a “Google” enquiry.
The woman, identified as, Olga Vinogradova, was described by Mifsud as “just a student, but a very good-looking one, and Papadopoulos’s interest in her was very different from an academic one.” Later revelations revealed “Olga Vinogradova,” to be a 32 year old graduate from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.
Now a wine company manager, (married name) Olga Polonskaya, she lives in St Petersburg and is one of a dozen Russian women listed as friends on Facebook with catfisher, Mifsud.
Polonskaya’s brother, Sergei Vinogradov, told the press that she had never worked for the Russian government, and had been introduced to Papadopoulos having previously met with Mifsud to discuss a promised internship.
Her English was poor and at the meeting on 24 March 2016, she was not able to fully follow the conversation between Papadopoulos and Mifsud. He added: “it’s totally ridiculous, She’s not interested in politics. She can barely tell the difference between Lenin and Stalin.”
But the affidavit filed together with his guilty plea indicated Polonskaya had participated in the catfishing of Papadopolous allegedly emailing; “I have already alerted my personal links to our conversation and your request for a foreign policy trip to Russia.”
Papadopoulos became attached to Mifsud: “because, among other reasons, the professor claimed to have substantial connections with Russian government officials, and he thought the relationship would increase his importance as a policy advisor to the campaign.”
The offer of 26 April, 2016, passed to Papadopoulos by Mifsud to “dish the dirt” on Clinton through the provision of emails, allegedly from from the Russian’s was useless since Wikipedia had already published the information 16 March 2016.
Joanne H Alter (nee Hammerman) 1927 – 2008 was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois. Her mother Celia K. Hammerman, was an immigrant who fled the riots in Czarist Russia. Her father, Sol Hammerman, worked for J.K. Industries in Chicago, a company that was founded by her grandfather. Sol and his brother, Meyer Hammerman, turned the company into one of the nation’s largest children’s clothing manufacturers.
In 1952, she married James Alter, owner of a refrigeration and air conditioning company who shared her interest in politics. The Alters were one of the most powerful political families in Chicago.
The couple lived in a sprawling Victorian home that hosted countless parties for the lake-front liberal set and visiting politicians, while she kept busy as a “professional volunteer” on local and national issues.
She was an active fundraiser for the Democratic Party. When Martin Luther King came to Chicago in 1966, he attended a fundraiser in Mrs. Alter’s home.
Mayor Harold Washington and Sen’s. Paul Simon and Richard Durbin also stopped in over the years.
Her nephew, Robert S. Rivkin was appointed by President Barack Obama as the 21st General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation (DOT).
Another nephew, Charles Rivkin, was appointed by President Barack Obama as United States Ambassador to France and then Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs.
Jennifer Alter Warden is chief operating officer and executive vice president of Chicago based, Baird & Warner Real Estate. She oversees marketing, technology and human resources for the $160 million company, which includes 25 offices and 1800 broker associates, along with mortgage and title operations. The Company is the leading independent real estate services company in the Chicago area.
Jamie Alter Lynton was a journalist and television news producer and executive for 15 years, working at CNN, CBS and CNBC. She served as a Vice President and Los Angeles Bureau Chief of Court TV, as well as managing its educational division. Since leaving the workforce to devote time to raising her children, she has spearheaded a number of projects in the political and non-profit arena including serving as a regional panelist for the White House Fellows program. She is married to Michael Lynton, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment. See :https://www.lafund.org/our-team/jamie-alter-lynton
Dr. Harrison Alter is chief executive of The Andrew Levitt Center for Social Emergency Medicine which was created to advance the knowledge base about the interaction of community welfare and the medical care system occurring in the modern emergency department, as well as to promote solutions for those moments when these forces conflict. See:http://levittcenter.org/mission/
Michael Mark Lynton Heritage
Lynton was born in London on January 1, 1960. His Jewish parents, Marion (Sonnenberg) and Mark Lynton, were executives at the Multi-National, Hunter Douglas. PLC (one of the largest companies in the world) based in the Netherlands. Marion’s father owned the company and it is still in the family control. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_Douglas
Michael’s Jewish grandfather, Max-Otto Ludwig Loewenstein, was born in 1920 in Stuttgart, Germany. The family moved to Berlin two years later when his father was named head of a major German car manufacturing company. But relocated to Holland in 1936 before the start of WW2.
Michael’s father Mark was a student at Cambridge University at the outbreak of WW2. In common with other German nationals he was interned, in Canada for nearly a year. He later enlisted in the British military, where he served with distinction in a tank regiment.
After the war he transferred to work for the British Intelligence, interrogating German officers. The family, (name changed to Lynton) later moved to the United States and lived in Scarsdale, New York, for several years before returning to the Netherlands in 1969.
Michael attended the International School of The Hague and transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy for his senior year, graduating in 1978. He received his BA (history and literature) from Harvard College in 1982.
After several years in finance at Credit Suisse First Boston, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1987.
He is a citizen of the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom. Lynton speaks four languages: English, French, Dutch and German.
In 1987, Lynton joined The Walt Disney Company, where he started Disney Publishing. He subsequently served as president of Disney’s Hollywood Pictures from 1992 to 1996.
From 1996 to 2000, Lynton was chairman and chief executive officer of Pearson plc’s Penguin Group, extending the Penguin brand to music and the Internet.
In 2000, he joined Time Warner as CEO of AOL Europe, president of AOL International, and president of Time Warner International.
In 2004, Lynton became chairman and chief executive officer of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).
He leads SPE’s global operations, including motion pictures, television and digital content production and distribution, as well as home entertainment acquisition and distribution, operation of studio facilities, and the development of new entertainment products, services and technologies.
In April 2012, Sony Corporation announced that Lynton would additionally hold the position of chief executive of Sony Entertainment Inc., along with co-chair Amy Pascal, overseeing all of Sony’s global entertainment businesses, including Sony Music Entertainment, Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
He earns in excess of £3milllion annually.
Michael Lynton’s Other Interests
He is a member of the influential “think tank” The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Founded in 1921, it is a United States 4900-member organization, specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs.
It is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C.. Its membership has included senior politicians, more than a dozen secretaries of state, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, and senior media figures.
It’s mission is to promote globalization, free trade, reducing financial regulations on transnational corporations, and economic consolidation into regional blocs such as NAFTA or the European Union, and developing policy recommendations that reflect these goals. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations
Invited by the Tory government, he undertook a major role in the U.K. Film Policy Review Group, (chaired by former culture secretary Lord Chris Smith) which took exhaustive submissions from all sectors of the industry.
The subsequent report recommended a hike in Lottery money for British film productions “with potential,” as well as developing an export strategy for home grown talent. So, having closed the U.K. Film Council transferring much of its duties to the British Film Institute and Film London, the Tory government is now looking for a positive business spin to buoy the U.K. industry at large. See:
Jamie Alter and Michael Lynton Back Obama’s Presidential bid expanding the influence of the dynasty
Jamie’s mom, the late Joanne Alter was the first female Democrat elected in Cook County, Illinois. She spotted Obama in 2003 and convinced her daughter to support him.
As a result, Lynton co-hosted an early fundraiser for Obama’s Senate bid in 2004 in addition to hosting a presidential campaign event, when most showbiz types were still supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It’s no surprise therefore that Barack Obama’s closest friends, making up his tightly knit circle, are in the in the entertainment biz but aren’t celebs.
Rather the less glittery financial movers and shakers, (including a number of Obama’s beloved Harvard Law Mafia). See:
November 2014: Sony Hacked by Guardians of Peace (GOP)
“Guardians of Peace” hackers using Shamoon malware led to the theft of an estimated 100 terabytes of information, including internal company documents, private e-mail correspondence of around 437,000 people employed by or associated with Sony.
E-mail correspondence (between Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin) was made public to the embarrassment of both senior executives who subsequently issued formal apologies over their childish email exchanges.
Pascal and colleague Rudin were noted to have had an email exchange about Pascal’s upcoming encounter with Michael Lynton’s friend, President Barack Obama that included characterizations such as use of the word n* that could be seen as racist.
Pascal later apologized but her employment contract was not renewed.
30 December 2014: New Research Blames Insiders, Not North Korea, for Sony Hack
A leading cyber security firm says it has evidence that contradicts the government’s allegation that North Korea was behind the debilitating cyber attacks against Sony Pictures.
Researchers from the firm Norse told Security Ledger, an independent security news website, that they believe that a group of six individuals orchestrated the hack, including at least one former employee who was laid off in company-wide restructuring in May.
The latest allegations add to growing scepticism over the FBI’s assertion — reiterated by President Barack Obama — that linked North Korea to the attack, which the country has denied. A recent linguistic analysis cited in the New York Times found that the hackers’ language in threats against Sony was written by a native Russian speaker and not a native Korean speaker.
2 January 2015: U.S. Sanctions North Korea Over Sony Hack
The United States is imposing sanctions on North Korea following last year’s devastating hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the White House said Friday, calling them the “first aspect of our response” to the cyberattack.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order Friday authorizing additional actions against the North Korean government following the November cyberattack, which U.S. government agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, have pinned on the isolated country’s government.
15 January 2015: John McAfee: ‘I know who hacked Sony Pictures – and it wasn’t North Korea’
Anti-virus pioneer John McAfee claims to have been in contact with the group of hackers behind the devastating cyber-attack against Sony Pictures and guarantees they are not from North Korea.
Speaking to IBTimes UK about his current roster of security start-ups under his Future Tense brand – including secure messaging app Chadder – McAfee spoke about working with the FBI previously but said that, in this case, the agency was “wrong”. “I can guarantee they are wrong.
It has to do with a group of hackers – I will not name them – who are civil libertarians and who hate the confinement the restrictions the music industry and the movie industry has placed on art and so they are behind it.”
Bella Pollen and David Macmillan (The Sir Harold Macmillan “Supermac” Dynasty)
David’s father, Maurice Victor Macmillan, (Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden PC) 1921–1984 was a British Conservative Party politician, Member of Parliament and like his father Earl (Harold) Macmillan, (Prime Minister and leader of the Tory party) he was Chairman of Macmillan Publishers.
David is a Director of Macmillan Press, (part of the largest multi national publishing company in the world).
Arabella is the daughter of Peregrine Michael Hungerford Pollen, a peer and former chairman of Sotherby’s, New York (the largest multi national auction house in the world). Born in Oxford, she was raised in Manhattan.
In 1981, Pollen founded the eponymous design company Arabella Pollen, described by The Independent as: “designer of crisp, colourful clothes for the young social set”. Among her private clients were Diana, Princess of Wales, Margaux Hemingway and Marianne Faithfull. Between 1981 and 1994, the company was nominated for eleven major fashion awards.
In 1984, Arabella Pollen won the contract to design staff uniforms for the newly launched Virgin Atlantic Airways and created suits in the ‘Virgin Red’ that is still the airline’s signature colour.
In 1990, Courtaulds acquired a minority share in the company, later increasing this to a majority stake. Arabella Pollen closed in 1994, following Courtaulds’ purchase of the company. Pollen continued to advise the textile giant as a design consultant.
In 1995, Pollen became a writer, working as Bella Pollen. Her third book, Hunting Unicorns, became a best seller in 2004. Midnight Cactus (2007) was sold to Paramount Pictures. Summer of the Bear (2011) was an Oprah summer pick and a Richard and Judy best summer read. Pollen has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers including The Times, Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Observer and Vogue.
Pollen’s first marriage was to art dealer Giacomo Dante Algranti in 1985, with whom she had two children, Jesse and Samuel.
In 1995, she married David Macmillan, the grandson of former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and director of the book publisher, Macmillan Publishers. The couple have two children, Finn and Mabel. They voted one of the top 50 power couples in 2013.
18 April 2015: Now that’s Power: Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton suggests getting the UK culture minister fired replacing him with a former PM’s grandson
Lynton mulled pulling strings to get UK culture minister Ed Vaizey fired to replace him with the grandson of former prime minister Harold MacMillan.
Vaizey, a democratically elected Tory moderniser, oversaw “digital industries” for Britain’s Coalition government – from broadband to copyright shake ups. He was comfortably re-elected in 2010, and slotted into the Ministry of Fun by Prime Minister David Cameron.
The revelation that Sony’s powerful Lynton wanted shot of Vaizey emerged fresh from the mountain of emails and documents leaked from Sony Pictures by hackers, all of which were bunged into a searchable online database by WikiLeaks this week.
Lynton was sharing breakfast with Bella Pollen – a UK socialite, journalist, and novelist – in Los Angeles in August last year when he fired off an email to her husband David MacMillan, publisher and grandson of former Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, that read:
“I am sitting here with Bella and conspiring as to how to make you Minister of Culture and Sport. You are perfectly qualified. First step is to get Ed Vaizey fired. I will do this with George Osborne. Next step is to get you appointed. This requires you meeting Charles Dunstone, (chairman of Carphone Warehouse and a big contributor to the Conservative Party) and having him recommend you. I will make the introduction in September. The games afoot !!!
Two hours later, MacMillan, in the UK at the time, responded:
Need to be elected to parliament or raised to the peerage to proceed further with your plan, but love the idea. Like all being in Charles Dunston’s gift, think Osborne will be fearful of Vaizey as he wishes to avoid the publication of various school time photos … or maybe he feels comfortable with his past. Lynton shot back: “Your MP is 70. Time for him to move on. Photos are in the cloud. They will be gone soon.”
The photographic evidence MacMillan mentioned was quite possibly a reference to an infamous snap taken in 1994 of a 22-year-old George Osborne with his arm around his pal Natalie Rowe.
In 2013, she published an autobiography describing her time as a dominatrix, and had her home raided by the UK plod after tweeting tatty photos, dating back to the 1990s, of Osborne at a party.
26 July 2013: Scottish cash to back US sci-fi series Outlander
The arts body Creative Scotland is to help fund a major US science fiction series to be filmed in Scotland.
Outlander tells the story of Claire and James Fraser, using time travel to slip between 18th and 20th Century Scotland.
The US cable network Starz and Sony Pictures Television will begin shooting Outlander later this year. Part of their plans include building a new television studio and production base at Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.
Creative Scotland will provide the production companies with financial support towards their shooting and studio costs. The arts body is also helping the producers to identify locations and studio space for the series.
It is believed a UK distribution deal is being negotiated with Sony for showing in the summer of 2014.
The level of support they will receive is still subject to negotiation but First Minister Alex Salmond said: “This announcement… is a wonderful endorsement of the scenery, talent and facilities on offer to film crews in this country. We have huge potential to make Scotland a major centre for film production, but competition is fierce and bodies such as Creative Scotland are doing all they can to ensure that some of the most high-profile screen productions are attracted to Scotland, bringing industry jobs and securing incredible, money-can’t-buy exposure for our breathtaking scenery.”
As well as employing a local crew of about 200, an estimated 2,400 supporting roles are expected to be cast from within Scotland and the rest of the UK during the filming of the series.
Mr Salmond added: “This announcement, which could see a crew of around 200 assembled and an estimated spend of £20m in Scotland, is a wonderful endorsement of the scenery, talent and facilities on offer to film crews in this country, and I can’t wait to see some distinctly Scottish locations on screen.”
December 2014: Outlander TV Series Cancelled After Just One Season – The spoiler source Sony?
Outlander, a new Starz network TV series based on the New York Times bestselling Outlander novels by Diana Gabaldon, is set to cancel after only its first season. The show aired for the first time on August 9th, 2014 but, due to budgeting issues, was forced to to take a six month long mid-season break. This, among other issues, spelled the untimely end for this ill- fated program. (A load of tosh!! It was taken off at the request of Prime Minister Cameron who feared the storyline would encourage the Scottish Independence Campaign).
Gabaldon’s Outlander is a dramatic historical love story about WWII combat nurse, Claire Randall.
Previously separated by the war, Claire and her husband Frank decide to reconnect on a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands. While there, Claire stumbles upon a mysterious circle of standing stones… And suddenly finds herself in the middle of the eighteenth century where she falls madly in love with Jamie Fraser, a young clansman.
For over two decades, this book has been a favourite with readers of science fiction, adventure, historical fiction, and romance. Over this twenty year time period, Gabaldon rejected numerous offers to bring her famous books to the big screen. An offer from Starz to produce a television series was eventually accepted by the author, and production began shortly thereafter.
Only two months into the six month long mid season break, a lengthy list of problems related to the show and its production began to surface. One major issue was that the actors bore little to no resemblance to the cherished characters portrayed in the novels. The MacKenzie brothers were much too old, Claire had the wrong eye color and Jamie, the book’s hero, didn’t have hair that was red enough to please fans.
Although the series was originally offered a second season, the network came to the realization that the show was much too costly to produce. Season two, which would have been based on the second book in the series, would have forced the show to film in Scotland, France and the United States. The third season would have taken them even farther afield.
“There are nine novels in this series,” said one production assistant. “At the rate we’re going, the entire series will take over a decade to produce. TV watchers just don’t have that kind of attention span. Plus, with all the special effects, period wardrobes, makeup and travel, the cost of production is simply unsupportable.”
Although many fans will be disappointed to see this short- lived series come to an end, there are plenty of fans who are almost relieved that it’s over. This change makes room for more exciting programs in the Starz lineup, and gives director Ronald D. Moore the time to work on other, more important projects. It is hoped that author Diana Gabaldon will be offered another chance to bring Outlander to the silver screen. See:
9 December 2014: The Best New TV Shows of 2014 – Outlander
Starz’s adaptation of a popular book series, about a headstrong nurse who is transported back in time from the post-war 1940s to 18th-century Scotland, was a dicey proposition.
Not only did the show have to satisfy the books’ more than passionate fan base, but it had to appeal to a larger audience with a multi-genre show that could finally put Starz on the scripted-programming map alongside some of its premium-cable brethren.
The first season technically isn’t over—the second half begins its run in April, (a strange, possibly hobbling decision made for mysterious reasons.) But from what I’ve seen, Outlander is Starz’s biggest creative success yet, a sharply acted, thoughtfully written series that is a political drama and a super-sexy romance, a mystical mystery and an empowerment tale.
It’s an odd mix of tones and styles, but it all fuses together rather well. Points especially to the fabulously named Caitriona Balfe, who plays our heroine with depth and wit, and to Sam Heughan for, y’know, that whole business.
4 April 2015: Outlander star Heughan speaks about his disappointment at ‘No’ vote in Indyref
The star of the Outlander TV series, Sam Heughan, has spoken of his support for Scottish independence and his disappointment at the result of the recent referendum.
Heughan, who plays the key role of Jamie Fraser in the US series, which has recently become available to viewers in Scotland on the Amazon Prime streaming service, said that initially he was not a supporter of Scotland leaving the UK. However, he soon became “very much for Yes”, he has told the Wall Street Journal.
In an online video interview he said: “When I first heard about the arguments I very much thought it wasn’t a great idea but just having spent some time there and discussing it more, I thought it was a chance for more democracy in Scotland.” The actor, from Dumfries and Galloway, added: “It just seemed that the people of Scotland would have more control over what happened to them, unfortunately the vote went the other way, it was pretty close. “But it has got people involved in politics again.”
His co-star, Tobias Menzies, who is English, was also asked about the independence referendum. Menzies, who plays both Frank Randall and Black Jack Randall, said he was conflicted about the vote as he felt Britain would be “lesser without Scotland”.
However he said spending many weeks in Scotland last year “it was hard not the feel the excitement and by the end I could really feel the disappointment…I am sure it will be a decision that will be revisited in the future.”
20 April 2015: UK Government delayed TV show Outlander due to independence referendum
Television drama Outlander was delayed due to pressure from the UK Government prior to Scotland’s independence referendum.
A leaked email detailing a meeting between UK Prime Minister David Cameron and top Sony officials has fuelled further claims that the show was delayed due to political fears surrounding the independence referendum.
Lots of ugly things crawled out of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s e-mails leaked by hackers in the autumn of 2014. Keith Weaver, executive vice president of Sony Pictures, contacted Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony, and Andrea Wong, Sony’s president of international production, on 28 June 2014.
Weaver wrote that their meeting with Cameron would have “special emphasis” on “the importance of Outlander (i.e., particularly vis-a-vis the political issues in the U.K. as Scotland contemplates detachment this Fall)”.
The email was part of a leak of over 173,000 private Sony emails by the transparency group Wikileaks.
20 April 2015: Leaked Sony emails show TV chiefs discussing political “importance” of Outlander to indyref
The “importance” of the US television drama Outlander to the political atmosphere of last year’s Independence Referendum was highlighted by key TV executives before a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.
In a cache of leaked memos from the Sony organisation obtained by Wikileaks, an email written by Keith E. Weaver, executive vice president at Sony Pictures Entertainment, which produces Outlander, discusses a meeting with the Prime Minister last summer.
The Sony email mentions the “importance” of the TV series to the political situation last year, and how it would likely be a “focus” of the meeting with Cameron.
Publication of the leaked email has further fuelled social media speculation that the UK Government did not want the show broadcast before the independence vote in September.
An Outlander insider, with intimate knowledge of the show, said: “It makes complete sense as to why Sony took their foot off the pedal with UK sales. “It was all systems go and they had the BBC up to see the set, etc, then there was a definite sense of trying to back pedal.”
In the background briefing document for a “PM Cameron event” last summer, Mr Weaver wrote to other Sony executives: “Your meeting with Prime Minister Cameron on Monday will likely focus on our overall investment in the U.K. – with special emphasis on the importance of Outlander (i.e., particularly vis-a-vis the political issues in the U.K. as Scotland contemplates detachment this Fall), and the growth of our channels business…”
Outlander, based on the best selling books by Diana Gabaldon and shot in Scotland, was finally broadcast in the UK this year, well after other countries, some who saw the show last August. It is now viewable on the Amazon Prime streaming system.
At last year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, the author Diana Gabaldon speculated on why the UK broadcast of the series had apparently been delayed and she mentioned the rumours linked to the independence referendum.
She said: “They are in fact negotiating with one or more UK TV suppliers. Why that deal has not come to a conclusion, I don’t know, they have been at it for three months at least. There has been talk and rumour and speculation, even though there is no evidence on which to speculate, but the most common rumour is they are waiting until after the Scottish referendum – but there is no evidence to suggest that is true. You can take that for what it’s worth.”
4 May 2015: Which brings us to the matter of STARZ’ cable series, Outlander, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron‘s government.
In 2013, STARZ network ordered the 16-episode adaptation of bestselling historical fiction novel, Outlander by author Diana Gabaldon, from production companies Tall Ship Productions, Story Mining & Supply Co., and Left Bank Productions, in association with the copyright holder, Sony Pictures Television.
While STARZ was the U.S. distributor, offering the series on its own cable network, SPE’s TV arm handled overseas distribution to broadcast, cable, and video streaming services.
Outlander’s cross-genre narrative is set mainly in 1740s Scotland; the story is sympathetic to a Scottish protagonist and his time-travelling English wife who are caught between the British and Jacobites in the ramp up to the 1746 Battle at Culloden. The Scottish people and countryside are treated favourably in the series’ production.
The program debuted on STARZ in the U.S. on 9 August 9 2014 — a little less than six weeks before Scotland’s independence referendum (“IndyRef”).
Outlander began airing in Canada and Australia in August 2014 also, and in October 2014 in Ireland, after the IndyRef vote.
Distribution deals in other countries including Germany, Hungary, Japan, and the Netherlands led to wider release overseas in 2014. See:https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/outlander/
Imran Ahmed founded CCDH in December 2017. He promotes himself to be an expert in unacceptable online behaviour including identity centred hate, misinformation, extremism, fake news and trolling.
He is a trustee of Victim Support and was recruited to the Steering Committee of the UK Government’s Commission on Countering Extremism Pilot Task Force in April 2020.
The CCDH has emerged as a significant player in the debate over online censorship.
At that time the organisations little known founders, Imran Ahmed and Morgan McSweeny cut their political teeth conspiring with other centralist figures in the Labour Party to destroy the political career of Jeremy Corbyn. The successful assault brought rewards ensuring their retention as advisors to Starmer and with it significant influence shaping the policies of the Labour Party.
McSweeny remained with Starmer and the newly elected Labour Government, whilst Ahmed relocated to Washington DC, the seat of power of the Biden administration. With a shared political vision he speedily established himself and his fledgling organisation in an advisory role to the President.
Ahmed, a man with a mission did not hang about and ruthlessly attacked Biden’s political opponents through the now infamous and discredited,“Disinformation Dozen” campaign.
But activity incurs risk and opponents hit back with leaked emails revealing Ahmed’s unpublished association with and financial backing from Israeli Government officials.
Information also surfaced which showed his liaison with the Israeli’s was not new but was deeply entrenched in the organisation’s operational routine and included financing, victim targetting and assistance with information gathering and reporting.
Facebook was targeted by CCDH and forced to ban Palestinian members from posting any criticism of Israel labelling it antisemitic under the contentious IHRA definition. Ahmed delivered for Israel and silenced Palestinian solidarity movements
The CCDH continues to post financial gains confirming the guarantee of significant profits from supporting the State directed silencing of free speech and censorship.
Money makes the world go around but who is funding the CCHD
Schwab Charitable manages the financial investment portfolios of ultra wealthy clients and provides complimentary advice and services including the use of tax rewarding charitable donations through donor-advised funds (DAF’s).
Donor-advised charitable funding routed through Schwab Charitable, ensures donor privacy thus providing the means through which anonymized contributions can be given over to controversial organizations, such as the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH).
Schwab Charitable, is always at or near to the top of the grant givers in the United States, collecting over $4 billion annually in contribution, releasing around $2 billion each year to charity.
The organization employs some 30 staff and pays salaries up to $800k to asset managers and executives. Other staff members are rewarded with salaries ranging between $100-150K.
Ahmed’s CCHD, receives around $1.5 million annually from the Schwab Charitable Fund.
There is increasing political concern in the US about the level of secrecy cloaking the activities of the CCHD but requests for information are being stonewalled using the charitable status as justification benefitting the Democratic Party.
McSweeney resigned from the CCDH board to become chief of staff for Labour Party leader Starmer but the CCHD retains a close working relationship with Starmers Labour Party.
Board members are closely linked to leftish progressive organizations favoured by Starmer:
Simon Clark, is a non-resident senior fellow with the Democratic establishment-aligned think tank Centre for American Progress.
Kristy McNeill, serving as (MP) for Midlothian. A member of the Labour and Co-operative Party, she is also the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland.
Johnny Oates, is a Member of the House of Lords for the Liberal Democrats party.
Ayesha Saran, who is committed to social change is a migration program manager for Cadbury Trust, an independent charitable foundation. Her work is focused on migration, inclusion, countering extremism and hate. She also serves boards of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate, British Future, and Larger Us. Previous experience includes secondment from the Foreign Office working for intergovernmental organisations in policy roles and senior management, in the UK and Albania.
Game show host Rachel Riley is listed as a, “patron.
Ahmed with financial support, recognition and expansion plans in place extended the influence of CCDH bandwagon when he established an base in the US.
Ahmed and his CCDH responded to a Biden administration invitation to set up in the US and with obstacles conveniently removed carved out an influential niche in the Washington DC political swamp gaining formal recognition and registration, as a British NGO. with non profit status
With the favoured organisation status of CCDH in place Ahmed, now CEO firmly ensconced himself with a number of influential Democratic Party politicians and their supporters, including the State Department’s Global Engagement Centre and former House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
He was also invited to join the “Council for Responsible Social Media” a group that included on it a former CIA director, a former NSA director, and other former US military and intelligence officials.
He shared tactical plans with the influential Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chairwoman of the antitrust subcommittee and lead officer for matters pertaining to information technology.
Only days folllowing registration CCDH launched a sustained attack on Elon Musk’s recently established social media channel”X”. Documents later revealed that CCDH officers had plotted with Democratic officials to destroy the fledgling enterprise because of its declared support of the Trump presidential campaign.
Not to be outdone Ahmed’s erstwhile friend McSweeney was tasked by Starmer to attend the Democratic National Convention where he discussed and agreed tactics for her campaign with Kamala Harris and her advisors.
He later returned to the US accompanied by a small army of around 100 Labour Party stalwarts and campaigned for Harris in many of the battleground States.
McSweeney’s support of the Democratic Party leadership did not go unnoticed by the Trump team who accused Starmer of meddling in the campaign and filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Ahmed piggy backs and hijacks the fears of the “Great Replacement” and expands the influence of CCDH taking in the US
The “Great Replacement” theory is a phrase first used to describe uncontrolled mass immigration into France and occupies a significant and increasing public profile being actively promoted by its proponents through social media platforms. and is weaponised by an increasing number of mainstream politicians.
Ahmed and McSweeney formed CCDH to combat what they believed to be unacceptable extremist ideology narratives on social media sites. Radically pro-censorship their non-profit organisation abhorred the “free speech” policies of a number of social media providers and actively solicited the support of left leaning politicians and their academic supporters in a crusade the successful outcome of which was designed to be the elimination of free thinking social commentary.
The relocation of CCDH to the US and political association with the Democratic Party brought with it opportunities to expand the political influence of Ahmed and the CCDH who aided the Biden administration by publishing a censorship hit-list known as the “disinformation dozen,”a group of twelve “free thinking” social media users including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, they alleged to be primary spreaders of “COVID misinformation.”
Influential activists soon rallied to the tax-exempt non-profit status organisation, including:
Cynthia Miller-Idris: A director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Laboratory (PERIL) at American University. An organisation partnered with Google’s Jigsaw anti-extremism laboratory, which experiments with Orwellian methods of narrative control.
Research by the Foundation for Freedom Online revealed CCDH to be collaborating with Biden’s government officials and former senior officials of the US military and intelligence community including sharing joint board memberships, anti-disinformation and anti-online hate planning summits, and other activities, including:
A current US special envoy. A contractor for DHS and the State Department. Two former secretaries of defense. Two former directors of the CIA. A former director of the NSA. A former director of Homeland Security. Two former vice chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Two former directors of the National Security Council. A former FCC commissioner. A former director of National Intelligence.
CCDH had close ties to the former House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) who took a leading role in generating public panics over, “disinformation.”
CCDH worked with influential lawmakers including former Democrat head of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Jenna Galper, formerly a senior communications advisor for Rep. Schiff, worked for CCDH’s policy team and promoted CCDH’s May 2022 Global Summit to “Address Online Harms and Misinformation.”
In December 2022, Rep. Schiff wrote a letter urging “X” CEO Elon Musk to combat rising “hate speech” on the platform, citing research from CCDH.
Schiff, in August 2023, along with Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA) and Sean Casten (D-IL), sent a letter to Musk, ridiculing Musks’s lawsuit against CCDH.
In September 2024 a CCDH document cited a Schiff-sponsored bill, the “Digital Services Oversight and Safety Act,” as a bipartisan bill to strengthen transparency requirements for social media companies.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) an anti-Elon Musk advocate took the lead on the bulk of the left’s tech policy. Her office staff attended CCDH’s “Kill Musk’s Twitter” meetings.
Klobuchar was also the chair of the Senate Judiciary Sub-committee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights. Some say, she was the most powerful Democrat on technology policy.
In 2019 she introduced the Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy Act, establishing a censorship program at the Department of Education.
In 2021, she proposed a bill to crack down on alleged vaccine misinformation and sent a letter to CEOs referencing CCDH’s “dirty dozen” report, which noted that 12 people were most responsible for the proliferation of alleged vaccine misinformation.
An America First Legal (AFL) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request found that the State Department’s “Global Engagement Center” (GEC) encouraged federal employees at the State Department to pay attention to CCDH’s work, and revealed that the CCDH was directly briefing White House officials.
The CCDH increased contacts with the State Department. An invite only CCDH gala in Washington, D.C. included an invitation for Erica Mindel, an employee of the consultancy firm, “Guidehouse” seconded to the State Departmen as a “Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.”
“Guidehouse” also had $2.6 million contract to provide “misinformation, disinformation, and mal-information analysis,” for the “Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Ahmed participated in the activities of the “Council for a Responsible Social Media”, a bipartisan group that aimed to influence social media content policy. It membership included major national security officials, namely:
Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense, director of the CIA, White House chief of staff.
Congressman Bill Owens, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and US Navy.
Admiral, Michael Rogers, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA).
US Navy Admiral, Nicole Tisdale, former director of the National Security Council.
Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who led the Obama-era net neutrality regulations through the agency.
R.P. Eddy, CEO of Ergo and former director of the White House National Security Council.
The Scottish public are denied their right to active promotion, through broadcasting of cultural diversity with other parts of the United Kingdom and the Westminster government through its politically directed British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is in breach of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – Article 11 – Freedom of expression and information.
The BBC is failing Scots due to the Unionist mindset of its political controllers and Westminster appointed politically biased managers who are indoctrinated to believe that The BBC provides the glue that holds the wobbly Union together and any weakening of the strength of the paste will bring about the end of the Union.
Removal of BBC accountability to the Scottish Electorate
From 1946 to 1991 media affairs in Scotland was subject to the moderating influence of a BBC Scotland Controller who effectively reported to the, “Broadcasting Council for Scotland”, on which many distinguished Scot’s served over the years. But following a Westminster government reorganisation control of BBC output in Scotland was transferred to the Board of Governors of the corporation in England then onto the BBC trust in London.
Special Branch “Deep Throat”
Bias against Scots is endemic and should be rectified
BBC Scotland needs to be removed from Westminster so that it can be truly independent of political interference and the previously successful over arching Scottish body, including members of the public, should be re-established.
31 October 2017: The Cabinet of the Scottish Government provided its civil servants with a “commission” – a formal instruction – which was recorded in the Cabinet minutes under the heading of “Sexual Harassment” as follows:
“While there is no suggestion that the current arrangements were ineffective, the First Minister asked the Permanent Secretary to undertake a review of the Scottish Government’s policies and processes to ensure they are fit for purpose.”
Comment: Sturgeon concluded that the “procedures” in place were effective. Why ask for them to be reviewed? In any event the “procedures” apply to all UK civil servants and as such changes are not remitted to the Scottish Government.
If the Permanent Secretary concluded that policies and procedures were unfit for purpose it was incumbent on her to inform the Cabinet Secretary in London and advise the First Minister of any proposals for procedural changes.
Hynd, who complied the first and subsequent drafts of a “new” and unique procedure did consult with the “Cabinet Office” and was told not to proceed with the matter which required a UK approach and as such it was being addressed in London. But he was apparently instructed to bash on regardless.
There was no mention of retrospective investigations of former ministers, perhaps because there was no legal precedence that would allow it. The recourse open to an aggrieved person wishing to pursue allegations of sexual harassment against a former employee of the Government or a minister was through the police.
The First Minster stated she was guided in her actions by the Ministerial Code, which states:
“It is for the First Minister to judge the standards of behaviour expected of Ministers and by implication ex-Ministers. It is for the First Minister to decide whether there has been a breach of standards. Where the First Minister decides that there has been such a breach, it is for the First Minister to decide what the consequences for the Minister (ex) are to be.
Very explicit!!! No need for any new retrospective procedure Investigations of alleged misconduct against Ministers are to be reported to the First Minister who decides the course of action to be taken.”
The Opening Skirmishes
31 October 2017: Ann Harvey, principal assistant to the chief whip at the SNP’s Westminster Group received 16 text messages, throughout the day, some from SNP HQ, to her private number, fishing for information which could be damaging if used against Alex Salmond.
Many specifically asked for confirmation that Sue Ruddick (a personal friend and ex colleague of Ann) had been physically assaulted by Alex while they were campaigning together during the 2008 General Election campaign. Ann’s answer was a categorical rebuttal, Alec had never physically assaulted Sue Riddick. What’s up? Someone was after getting to Alex even before the Civil Service got involved in drafting procedures providing the means to pursue long extinct and unsubstantiated allegations.
Note: In August 2018 (10 years after the alleged incident). Ruddick reported a common assault by Alex, against her to the police. The police investigated but said there was insufficient corroborative evidence to charge Alec. But details of the long dead unsupported allegations were added to a report to the Crown Office and Procurator fiscal. But they all count!!!! when the time is right!!!!!!!!“
31 October 2017: That day the First Minister instructed the Permanent Secretary to “review” procedures. This was clearly a significant and an integral part of the early skirmishing attacks on the character of Alec Salmond.
31 October 2017: In the course of the day David Clegg constantly pestered his contacts in Holyrood seeking to ascertain, without success if any complaints about harassment had been made about Alex Salmond during his tenure as First Minister. Clegg had been alerted, probably by someone in the group pestering Ann Harvey in Westminster that Alec was being accused of assaulting Sue Ruddick.
A leap forward – At the beginning of August 2020 Swinney contracted James Hamilton to independently investigate past events to determine if Sturgeon had breached the Ministerial Code at any time. The remit for the investigation was decided by Swinney.
The remit for the referral is to:
Review any relevant documentation relating to the meetings and discussions listed. Interview any Minister or official of the Scottish Government, including Special Advisers, who may have any knowledge of the facts and content of the meetings and discussions, to assess whether the Ministerial Code is engaged and, if so, whether the terms of the Code have been complied with.
Interview any relevant person out with the Scottish Government, including the former First Minister, Alex Salmond, who may have information relating to the facts and content of the meetings and discussions.
Determine if there is any evidence that the First Minister attempted to use information discussed during those meetings and discussions to influence the conduct of the investigation being undertaken by the Permanent Secretary into allegations made against Mr Salmond under the Procedure.
Note: Alec Salmond’s legal team lodged complaints that the remit was unnecessarily constricted and designed to limit the activities of the independent investigator. Hamilton responded saying he would fully investigate matters without regard to the Swinney remit but events proved disproved this. He adhered to the Swinney remit!!!!
James Hamilton Observations
The remit for the self-referral to me by the First Minister under the Scottish Ministerial Code was set out by the Deputy First Minister, Mr John Swinney, in a reply to a parliamentary question in the Scottish Parliament.
“It has been alleged that the First Minister breached the Scottish Ministerial Code in that she failed to feed back the basic facts of meetings and discussions she and her Chief of Staff held with Alex Salmond, as required by sections 4.22 and 4.23 of the Code. The meetings and discussions in question took place on:
29 March 2018 – A meeting in Holyrood between Ms Sturgeon and Geoff Aberdein, former Chief of Staff to Mr Salmond, Scottish Parliament.
2 April 2018 – A meeting with Alec Salmond on the evening of 2 April 2018 at the First Minister’s home. Mr Aberdein and Ms Lloyd were present as well as Mr Duncan Hamilton who was acting as a legal adviser to Mr Salmond.
23 April 2018 – A telephone conversation between the First Minister and Mr Salmond.
23 April 2018- A second telephone conversation between the First Minister and Mr Salmond.
7 June 2018 – A meeting between the First Minister and Mr Salmond during the Scottish National Party Conference which took place in Aberdeen.
14 July 2018 – A third meeting between the First Minister and Mr Salmond which took place at the First Minister’s home.
18 July 2018 – A final telephone conversation between the First Minister and Mr Salmond.
It is has been (sic) further suggested that, in light of those meetings, the First Minister may have attempted to influence the conduct of the investigation then being undertaken by the Permanent Secretary into allegations made against Mr Salmond under the Procedure for Handling of Harassment Complaints involving Current or Former Ministers (“the Procedure”).
The Scottish Ministerial Code- The key relevant extracts from the Code are:
1.6. Ministers are personally responsible for deciding how to act and conduct themselves in the light of the Ministerial Code and for justifying their actions to Parliament and the public. The First Minister is, however, the ultimate judge of the standards of behaviour expected of a Minister and of the appropriate consequences of a breach of those standards. Although the First Minister will not expect to comment on every matter which could conceivably be brought to his or her attention, Ministers can only remain in office for so long as they retain the First Minister’s confidence.
1.7. Where he or she deems it appropriate, the First Minister may refer matters to independent advisers on the Ministerial Code to provide him or her with advice on which to base his or her judgement about any action required in respect of Ministerial conduct. The findings of the independent advisers will be published.
Note: Sturgeon studiously avoided a course of action which was available to her. No need for a new untested and illegal procedure. The conduct of Ministers is for their fellow Ministers to decide on. There is no provision in the Ministerial Code that would permit the involvement of civil servants in any investigations concerning Ministers.
Provide the Deputy First Minister with a report setting out the findings and conclusions with regard to:
i. whether the Ministerial Code is engaged regarding the meetings and discussions;
ii. whether there has been any breach of the Code and the nature of any such breach; and
iii. if a breach has occurred, advice on the appropriate remedy or sanction.
The Independent Adviser is further invited to consider and offer views on whether the Ministerial Code might need revision to reflect the terms of the Procedure and the strict limitations it places on the involvement of the First Minister in cases which fall to be considered under the Procedure.
Timing
The Independent Adviser is invited to commence the investigation and submit a report as soon as possible.”
In accordance with the remit I sought and received written observations from persons who included the following:
The First Minister, Ms Nicola Sturgeon; the former First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond; the Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government, Ms Leslie Evans; Ms Liz Lloyd, Chief of Staff to the First Minister; Mr Geoffrey Aberdein, formerly Chief of Staff to the former First Minister; Mr Duncan Hamilton, Mr Kevin Pringle, Mr David Clegg, Mr Stuart Nicolson, Ms Lorraine Kay and Mr Peter Murrell.
All of these witnesses gave me full cooperation and answered follow-up questions where necessary although I had no power to compel any person to cooperate with the investigation. I carried out follow-up interviews with a number of the witnesses where I considered clarifications were required.
A briefing statement was issued by the Scottish Government to Mr Hamilton providing an explanation of the circumstances that the First Minister considered necessitated a procedure providing opportunity to retrospectively investigate allegations of misconduct by Ministers no longer in the employ of the Government.
It stated that not long after a cabinet meeting on 31 October 2017 a response document had been compiled by civil servant’s for the attention of the First Minister.
It included reasoning of the motive behind the First Minister’s instruction for the policy review, stating that:- “The Scottish Government is a diverse and inclusive organisation and tackling bullying and harassment, sits at the heart of its organisational strategy.”
A 2016 staff questionnaire indicated that a minority of staff (10%) said they had experienced bullying or harassment, the very low number of formal complaints suggested a possible lack of awareness of or confidence in existing processes and procedures. Surely a rebuttable assumption.
This led to the appointment in spring 2017 of a Director to champion at work with a remit to tackle bullying and harassment within the organisation.
The outcome was to gain an understanding of and address cultures which allowed bullying and harassment to occur and to raise awareness about the drivers for positive and inclusive cultures across the organisation.
At around this time a wider societal focus on sexual harassment and sexual abuse had been increasing, and in early October 2017 reactions to sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein brought widespread exposure of the Government to the #Me Too movement, which was seeking to tackle sexual harassment and abuse by making the scale of the problem clear.
A number of allegations of sexual harassment and assault were also reported in Westminster and the Scottish Parliament during October and November 2017. These were a matter of considerable concern across both Governments and Parliaments, as well as among individual MSPs, and the public at large.
The review process also identified a gap in the then existing procedure for dealing with historic sexual harassment claims against against former Ministers. A gap described in the response document as follows:-
Following the identification of a gap in the overall framework, work was put in hand to determine the most effective way to fill it. As a result, Scottish Government officials began work on the development of a new procedure that could be applied in respect of former Ministers.
The first version of the procedure was created on 7 November 2017. This was the beginning of an iterative and collaborative drafting process.
In the course of the drafting of that procedure it was decided to broaden its scope to include serving Ministers so that there would be a single procedure that could be applied in respect of harassment complaints involving Ministers, whether current or former. This was also consistent with existing plans to review the existing well tested “Fairness at Work” policy that had been in place for a number of years.
Later, following a view from the First Minister and Permanent Secretary, the procedure was amended to cover all forms of harassment, not just sexual harassment.
4 November 2017, during the review process, a Scottish Government Minister resigned his Ministerial post, following allegations made from outside the Scottish Government about his personal conduct.
This example reinforced for the Scottish Government the importance of making sure that it had policies and procedures in place which were capable of responding appropriately to such allegations should they arise within the Scottish Government.
Following the perception of a gap in the overall framework, work was put in hand to determine the most effective way to fill it. Scottish Government officials began work on the development of a new procedure that could be applied in respect of former Ministers.
The first version of the procedure, created on 7 November, was the beginning of an iterative and collaborative drafting process. In the course of which it was decided to broaden its scope to include serving Ministers7 so that there would be a single procedure that could be applied in respect of harassment complaints involving Ministers, whether current or former.
This approach was also consistent with existing plans to review the successful “Fairness at Work” policy. Later, following the personal intervention of the First Minister and Permanent Secretary, the procedure was amended to cover all forms of harassment, not just sexual harassment.
Note: A long winded explanatory briefing concocted with the purpose of justifying the unjustifiable. The “Ministerial Code” provides the remedies available to the First Minister for dealing with Minister’s that fail in their post for any reason. Simply twaddle designed to confuse the public.
Indeed Sturgeon defended the Minister who resigned his post stating his resignation had been hasty and unnecessary before changing her mind later on. But her first comments proved to be succinct since it emerged later that he had been the victim of a campaign of disinformation perpetrated by a colleague. I exposed details of the incident in another article.
The Introduction and Implementation of the Retrospective Procedure
It appears that its drafters did not consider that there might be any legal obstacle to applying the Procedure, designed and described as an internal Scottish Government procedure, to former Ministers who were no longer in a contractual or statutory relationship with Scottish Government and in respect of whom the previously existing harassment complaints procedure had already expired at the time of their retirement.
I have not seen any legal advice which may have been provided to Scottish Government at the time but we do know that according to the Response Document the Scottish Government’s lawyers were consulted as part of the approval process of the Procedure. The Procedure did not cover historic claims against former civil servants.
However, when complaints were laid against the former First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond, he disputed the right of Scottish Government to apply the Procedure to him and ultimately sought a judicial review against it.
Among the objections which he raised to the Procedure was the claim that he could not, as a former office-holder, legitimately have been made amenable to a disciplinary procedure which had been introduced as an administrative act without any statutory or other legal basis.
He challenged the retrospective effect of the Procedure and alleged procedural unfairness in the operation of the Procedure.
These issues are further addressed when I discuss Mr Salmond’s claim that the manner in which Scottish Government defended the case which he brought amounted to a breach of the Ministerial Code on the part of the First Minister.
It is not necessary for the purposes of my remit for me to express a view on the merits of any of Mr Salmond’s claims. These were matters of Scottish law which ultimately only the Scottish courts could have decided and to an extent did decide.
So far as concerns the future of the complaints procedure in respect of former Ministers and any amendments that may be required or thought desirable in the light of the failed disciplinary proceedings against Mr Salmond a separate enquiry led by Ms Laura Dunlop QC has prepared a report which was published on 16 March 2021.
Any questions concerning any political responsibility for the events which occurred in relation to the adoption of the Procedure are matters for the Scottish Parliament and I do not express any opinion on these.
Hamilton Outlines his Brief
My brief is to enquire into whether the First Minister was in breach of the Ministerial Code. It has been made clear that in this I am not confined to questions of whether specific paragraphs of the Code was breached but am expected to enquire whether any breach of the Code has been committed by the First Minister regarding her meetings and discussions with Mr Salmond between 29 March 2018 and 18 July 2018.
I am not aware of anything in the conduct of the First Minister in respect of the introduction of or her observance of the Procedure which could be considered to be a breach of the Code.
The Response Document has set out the reasons for the introduction of the Procedure. In my opinion those reasons demonstrated a proper concern for the objective of strengthening the procedures for dealing with cases of harassment and bullying, especially sexual harassment, and it was perfectly proper and appropriate for the First Minister to lead this process and to give it every support possible.
The process was supported by advice from the most senior Scottish Government officials, including the legal directorate, as well as experts in the area of human resources and the handling of complaints.
In my opinion the First Minister was entitled to rely on the advice she received. If there was any error in that advice- and I offer no opinion on that question- she cannot be regarded as personally in breach of the Ministerial Code because she relied on advice which was not correct.
I accept the First Minister’s evidence that at the time the Procedure was adopted she was not aware of any complaints or impending complaints against Mr Salmond.
It is not part of my remit to examine the administrative arrangements for the introduction of the Procedure and I make no comment about these.
A key principle in the Procedure is to avoid any risk of political interference in complaints and in particular to exclude the First Minister from any involvement in a complaint against a former Minister. In my opinion this is a legitimate and a proportionate objective of the Procedure.
As a result of this provision the First Minister excluded herself from being informed of or involved in dealing with any complaints against former Ministers as a result of which she was not informed of the two complaints against Mr Salmond.
In my opinion she was justified and acted properly in so excluding herself. Apart altogether from the provisions of the Procedure her long political association and personal friendship with Mr Salmond would have placed her in an invidious position and left herself open to accusations of bias and partiality had she allowed herself to become involved.
As already referred to Mr Salmond has made a number of very serious allegations about the manner in which the complaints were investigated and dealt with including accusations of serious impropriety.
I make no findings about the truth of any of these allegations which are the subject of enquiries by the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints of the Scottish Parliament.
I accept the evidence of the First Minister that she had no involvement in these matters.
I do not consider that at present the First Minister has any responsibility under the Ministerial Code for any shortcomings or wrongdoing in the behaviour of other persons, if there were any such shortcomings or wrongdoing, in relation to matters from which she has properly excluded herself from any involvement.
Later in this report I raise the question whether Ministers should bear responsibility for the activities of their special advisers.
Comment: Incredulous. Hamilton’s acceptance from Sturgeon that she knew nothing about anything beggars belief since her assertions are at odds with the evidence she gave to the Holyrood Inquiry and to occurrences’ officially recording the input and associated activities of a number of senior civil servants and Sturgeon’s “Special Advisor”
A wee snippet supporting the criticism:
13 November 2017: The person tasked with compiling the procedure was Cabinet Secretary, James Hynd who wrote to senior civil servants about sexual harassment allegations against current Ministers:
“We would need to alert Sturgeon to the fact that a complaint had been received against one of her Ministers and to take her mind about how she wished it to be handled.”
15 November 2017: Hynd wrote a second email, this time to Evans private office, commenting on their suggestion that complaints against Ministers might be resolved by informal means without the need for Sturgeon to be involved:
“I am not at all sure that this … will be acceptable to Sturgeon either generally or in the specific context of sexual harassment. Especially for the latter I think she will want to know straightaway if a complaint against a Minister has been received and will want to decide how it should be treated.”
There is, then, no ambiguity cancelling out the slightest plausible argument that Evans or any of her fellow civil servants could possibly have thought that it was acceptable for them to keep Sturgeon in the dark about any allegation of sexual harassment against any of her current Ministers. Why then would any of them think it would be acceptable not to inform Sturgeon of allegations against her mentor and closest friend of thirty years? Just doesn’t add up !!!!
27 November 2017: Hynd to Richards, (after compiling 8 draft procedures in a few days, burning the clock at midnight rushing to meet a deadline finishing the procedure.) Have looksee at the next draft procedure. All hands to the deck!!! Why so much urgency over one man??
What man is Hynd referring to? His admission that the much amended procedure taking in former Ministers had been rapidly compiled to get Alec Salmond.
Adding insult injury is the recent revelation that John Swinney, tasked the architect of the botched, unfair policy James Hynd, to lead a team of civil servants aiding Hamilton’s investigations.
And Hynd is being investigated by police for allegedly lying under oath to the Alex Salmond inquiry,
Leslie Evans interviewed by Hamilton
I enquired of the Permanent Secretary, Ms Leslie Evans, concerning her actions and involvement in the matters covered by my remit. Her reply includes the following statements:-
You asked for a statement of my actions and involvement in the matters covered by your remit. In providing such a statement, I should make clear from the outset that, as a civil servant, all my actions – including those taken in relation to this matter – are undertaken on behalf of Ministers and in keeping with the Civil Service Code.
I was not aware at the time – nor have I been made aware since – of any attempt by the First Minister to bring any influence to bear on the Scottish Government’s investigation of complaints against Mr Salmond under the Procedure for Handling Harassment Complaints against Current or Former Ministers.
At all times, my engagement with the First Minister was in keeping with the respective roles set out for the First Minister and Permanent Secretary in the Procedure.
Accordingly, I did not inform the First Minister that formal complaints had been made about Mr Salmond when they were received in January 2018.
In line with the Procedure, I did inform the First Minister of the outcome of the investigation at a meeting on 22 August 2018 in her capacity as both First Minister and as Leader of the Party which the former Minister in question, Mr Salmond, had represented.
As I have set out in my response to your specific questions below, the First Minister wrote to me on 6 June 2018, following a discussion on 5 June 2018, informing me of contact that she had had with Mr Salmond. I replied to the First Minister on 7 June 2018 to acknowledge receipt of her letter and to note the information it contained.
In addition, I also wrote to the First Minister towards the end of the investigation on 17 August 2018 to inform her I was seeking legal advice on next steps.
In addition to these exchanges, the only other communication I recall with the First Minister on this matter was a telephone call sometime in mid-July in which she told me that she had met with Mr Salmond on 14 July 2018 and that he had raised the issue of arbitration with her. She made it clear to me again that she had no role in this matter and that I must reach whatever decision I thought appropriate.
Accordingly, my communication with the First Minister on this issue was very limited during the period in which the investigation was in progress. In line with the Procedure, Mr Salmond had a number of opportunities to contribute to the investigation. I address this further in my answers to your specific questions below.
The intentions that lay behind my actions at all times throughout this period were the need to follow the process set out in the Scottish Government’s Procedure for Handling Harassment Complaints against Current or Former Ministers, in line with the Civil Service values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
This was especially true in carrying out the responsibilities as Deciding Officer assigned to the Permanent Secretary under the Procedure.
At no time did I experience any attempt whatsoever by the First Minister – or anyone acting on behalf of the First Minister – to influence how I undertook that role, or the decisions I came to, either in terms of the process followed or the substance of the matter. Indeed, this point is made explicit in the First Minister’s letter to me of 6 June 2018.
An Empirical Examination of the Myths spun by Leslie Evans
Evans asserted she had been formally notified of complaints of harassment against Alec Salmond, involving 2 members of staff in January 2018 but she did not notify Sturgeon since to have done so would have breached recently published procedures, conveniently put in place only days prior to the receipt of the complaints.
But a review of events betrays the lie in Evans statement since they highlight the concentrated efforts of a team of senior officials of the Scottish Governmment, compiling, discussing and amending 8 draft procedures, in the early hours of each morning, over a few days prior to the hasty introduction of a novel unauthorised harassment procedure purposed to bring down one man.
A review of events leading to the introduction of the procedure allowing the investigation of retrospective allegations against forer ministers
04 November 2017: Lloyd’s statement to the Holyrood Inquiry:
I was made aware on the evening of Saturday 4th November 2017 by a member of staff in an SNP parliamentary media office that they had received a query in relation to Mr Salmond and Edinburgh airport.
They called to alert me to the possibility of such a story running, in case any ministers were on Sunday morning media. I informed the First Minister of the query and that I understood that Mr Salmond would not be responding that evening.
Monday 06 November 2017: I was approached by several civil servants within the Scottish Government who raised concerns that Mr Salmond and representatives of Mr Salmond were reportedly contacting other civil servants directly to ask that they provide supportive statements in relation to the matters raised by Sky News to his legal representatives.
The civil servants indicated that those being approached were finding this contact unwelcome.
I was asked if I or other Special Advisers could ask Mr Salmond to go through appropriate channels rather than approach people direct, however I was informed shortly after receiving this request that the Permanent Secretary’s office had also been approached by staff and were taking their request forward, so made no approach to Mr Salmond.
05 and 06 November 2017: The media released news of the Alex Salmond Show to be broadcast weekly on “Russia Today” (RT) starting 10 November 2017.
This was how Alex announced his return to political journalism after losing his Buchan seat at Westminster in June 2017, following an enforced 6 month sabbatical brought about by his “blackballing” by the unionist controlled media who denied him a the opportunity to carve out a new career in political journalism away from frontline politics.
Sturgeon herself surprisingly joined Unionist politicians in the public criticism of Alex choice of broadcaster but neglected to acknowledge that every other option for employment had been denied him.
Sky News joined the attacks on Alex and launched a “Get Salmond” operation utilizing its over used methodology of immersing its journalists and those to be abused in gutter politics.
05 November 2017: Sturgeon took the bait when at 08.50 hours, she messaged Alex saying: “Hi – when you free to speak this morning?” They spoke. Sturgeon briefed Alex about the query from Sky News “about allegations of sexual misconduct at Edinburgh Airport on the part of Alex Salmond”. He denied the allegations. Sky news did not run a story.
06 November 2017: Evans informed Sturgeon of telephone contact between Alex and unnamed Scottish Government members of staff. She said he wanted to talk to them about an incident at Edinburgh Airport incident that Sky News were investigating, She had been told by two different sources, that they had received this contact and they were a bit bewildered and unhappy about it. She didn’t know what was said, she didn’t ask, she didn’t think it was appropriate to know.”
09 November 2017: Sturgeon contacted Alex to comment on his decision to host a weekly political discussion programme on RT. The content of her message was heavily redacted.
In a previous submission to the inquiry, Ms Sturgeon said the Sky News episode had given her a “lingering concern” that allegations about Mr Salmond could surface.
The query from Sky News was raised previously during an MSPs’ investigation of the Scottish Government’s botched handling of harassment claims made against Mr Salmond.
07 November 2017: Hynd, Richards and MacKinnon exchanged opinions on how to deal with harassment complaints against former Ministers. McKinnon tabled a “routemap” of a policy which suggested application to former Ministers. Hynd not happy advised the need to seek legal opinion. The team were clearly in the early stages of introducing procedures against former Ministers.
08 November 2017: Hynd delivered a first draft procedure applying only to Former Ministers. Referring to his work and that of MacKinnon he said that “neither of the pathways involving Ministers look right”.
07 November 2017: Allison received a telephone call in the course of which Ms B, made allegations against Alex. She said she was responding to a 2 November 2017 email headed, “Sexual harassment – message from the Permanent Secretary” which had been distributed to all Scottish Government staff. At the end of the conversation Allison telephoned Evans office and arranged a telephone conference so that she could personally advise Evans of the details of Ms B’s allegations. That the first contact was made to Allison remains a mystery given she was the Director of Communications, Ministerial Support and Facilities having given up her position in human resources some time before.
09 November 2017: Allison briefed Evans. They judged that whilst the information provided by Ms B was of concern no further action was needed since a formal complaint had not yet been made.
09 November 2017: Evans failure to brief Sturgeon breached the “Ministerial Code”.
09 November 2017: Evans later convened another meeting with and discussed the allegations again with Allison and then met separately to brief Richards. An email from Evans private secretary was circulated that evening appraising recipients of the content and outcomes of the earlier meeting and the actions that were to follow from it. One action was: “Evans would like to have conversation’s tomorrow with: Allison, Russell and Richards.”
In her evidence to the inquiry, Allison summarised how, after that initial phone call, she continued to be involved with Ms B and her concerns. “I had early contact with Ms B. The contact was a series of texts. I also had, I think, three telephone calls with her, but no meetings. No written record was ever taken of any of her concerns.”
All but one of the contacts were in the period 08 November to 29 November 2017.
In this period Allison was Director of Communications for the Scottish Government, in addition to whatever responsibilities she had for Ministerial Support and Facilities, and given that a plethora of much more qualified support was already in place for someone in Ms B’s position, with even more about to be added, one might legitimately wonder how she became involved.
10 November 2017: Evans called Russell and Allison separately and assigned appointments, roles and responsibilities to each of them and advised Richards of the details.
Russell’s revised role was:
“To provide a further choice for staff as a confidante and sounding board (in addition to established mechanisms such as HR / TUs / EAP etc) to help them consider options.”
Staff wishing to take things forward should be passed to Mackinnon. But the boundaries were unambiguous. To keep this manageable the focus is on those who have had experiences of sexual harassment. And the line of communication of “issues” through HR to Evans was clearly defined:
“It would be helpful if you could give regular updates to Richards/ MacKinnon if issues are raised with – anonymised if that is the person’s wish. They will then provide Evans with updates as required.”
Afternote: There was a flurry of email exchanges around these dates. Well worth a read:
Barbara Allison’s new role? At 12.40 hours: Evans private secretary updated the earlier Richards note which related to what was being asked of Allison with a warning added in blue highlight. “Bear in mind this may become public.”
Evans evidently thought “pastoral care.” aptly described her duties”.
Allison later told the Holyrood Inquiry that pastoral care was in place in case anyone wanted to say, “I am concerned that things are coming out. This feels tough, so where can I go for support?’ Trade unions, the welfare officer and the employee assistance programme and so on might be advised.”
But Allison’s real role was to cocoon Ms B and her “concerns” about Alex until hastily prepared unique procedures for investigating and deciding on historical harassment complaints was in place. She admitted to this when she told the Inquiry that: “I felt at times I was trying to hold a space open for her.”
The pastoral care of Ms B:
13 November 2017: Evans sent a message to all staff headed: “Sexual harassment at work Permanent Secretary update” intimating the important new roles of Russell and Allison. A comparison is instructive.
The Russell reference was clear providing her contact details and a description of her role as a “confidential sounding board for those who have experienced sexual harassment.” but with an added rider “current or in the past”.
The Allison reference was starved of description saying: “I am aware that some staff have been contacted by the media. It is standard practice to redirect journalists to submit requests through the news desk. If you have concerns please contact Barbara Allison”. That’s it!!!! No mention of “pastoral care”.
And Russell was just as much in the dark on the matter. She told the Holyrood Inquiry: “To be honest, at the time, in November 2017 as the documentation will demonstrate, I was not aware of Allison having that role of pastoral care. I was only aware of the role that the permanent secretary asked me to do.”
And she was not alone in that respect given that Russell, in common with almost all of her Scottish Government colleagues, had no idea of the top secret role Allison was performing for Evans:
13 November 2017: Allison copied Evans office staff a message she had sent to Ms B containing Russell’s contact details and her role. She then told Russell that someone might be in touch with her, but provided no details.
Russell’s evidence to the Holyrood Inquiry is enlightening. She advised: “After I took on the role on 13 November 2017 there was an engagement with Barbara Allison, in which she advised me that somebody might want to come and speak to me.
I advised Barbara that the text number for that purpose had been made available to staff and that, if anyone wanted to contact me, I would obviously be happy to see what I could do to support them, as had been set out in the note…. She said that she had been approached by somebody who wanted to speak. That was all I knew.”
Russell was not contacted by Ms B. The entire process from “concerns” to formal complaint to ultimate decision, was handled exclusively by Evans through Allison, Richards and Mackinnon.
Indeed, even as late at the time she gave evidence to the Holyrood Inquiry Russell she still assumed “wrongly” that the “somebody” Allison had been referring to on 13 November 2017 was Ms A.
A revelation that prompted a need for the Inquiry to ask Allison to write to them on 9 December 2020 to correct the misunderstanding, and point out that the “somebody” was actually Ms B.
About Allison: Her appearance before the Holyrood Inquiry was a masterclass in the art of subterfuge. Uninformed observers were underwhelmed with the evidence of the well presented elderly lady who was clearly nearing the end of a long and distinguished career. Her contribution to events was minor and ended soon after she passed Ms B on to MacKinnon. But the truth is that Allison possessed presentation skills finely honed over many years. and she was able to disguise the level and influence of her input. She was in fact the lead officer of the Scottish Civil Service LBGTQ movement charged with the rapid implementation of the policies of the now discredited Stonewall organisation. See:
13 November 2017: Cabinet Secretary James Hynd wrote to senior civil servants about sexual harassment allegations against current Ministers:
“We would need to alert Sturgeon to the fact that a complaint had been received against one of her Ministers and to take her mind about how she wished it to be handled.”
15 November 2017: Hynd wrote a second email, this time to Evans private secretaries, commenting on a suggestion that complaints against Ministers might be resolved by informal means without the need for Sturgeon to be involved:
“I am not at all sure that this … will be acceptable to Sturgeon either generally or in the specific context of sexual harassment. Especially for the latter I think she will want to know straightaway if a complaint against a Minister has been received and will want to decide how it should be treated.”
There is, then, no ambiguity cancelling out the slightest plausible argument that Evans or any of her fellow civil servants could possibly have thought that it was acceptable for them to keep Sturgeon in the dark about any allegation of sexual harassment against any of her current Ministers.
Why then would any of them think it would be acceptable not to inform Sturgeon of allegations against her mentor and closest friend of thirty years? Just doesn’t add up !!!!
Pen Picture of Permanent Secretary, Leslie Evans
The Permanent Secretary is the most senior civil servant in Scotland and head of the civil service supporting the Scottish Government and the principal policy adviser to the First Minister and Secretary to the Scottish Cabinet.
Not a lot of experience in procedural development or personnel management. Input limited to the approval of final documentation for the signature of the First Minster, acting on the guidance of senior managers in Human Resources.
A feminist with a fascination for gender politics. Dating back to a study of Queen Elizabeth of England and her speech at Tilbury, “I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman but I have the heart and stomach of a king”.
Work experience shaped her politics and values, and views about diversity, equality and inclusion. Enthusiastic supporter of the now discredited aims and aspirations of the “Stonewall” organisation.
The estimated £2million cost of the sordid debacle will be charged to the taxpayer an adding insult to injury Sturgeon promoted Evans increasing her final salary lump sum and pension by around 10%. Evans disappeared on gardening leave for a few months and retired.
Evans final act was to disrespect a Holyrood Committee chaired by an SNP MSP.
10 March 2022: Former Permanent Secretary Evans disrespected a parliamentary committee and ghosted into retirement with a massive lump sum gratuity and huge pension.
Evans was a key figure in the Alex Salmond affair, overseeing the disastrous internal probe into sexual misconduct claims against the former First Minister.
Her decisions contributed to Alex being able to overturn the findings in a judicial review case that saw him awarded £512,000 in costs. Sturgeon stood by Evans throughout and refused to sack her.
As part of its work into the running of the Scottish Government, Holyrood’s finance and public administration committee approached Evans in October 2021 about her sharing with the committee her reflections and insights into her role.
She was repeatedly reassured that the committee did not want to re-run the Salmond affair or revisit events examined by a previous Holyrood inquiry into it. Instead, the focus would be on “how government functions, the capacity and capability of the civil service, culture, and how policies are developed and implemented”.
The Office of the Permanent Secretary belatedly replied to the committee on Evans behalf refusing the invitation.
The letter stated: “Evans is on leave and she is effectively no longer a post-holder within the Scottish Government and is not able to speak on behalf of or represent the views of Scottish Ministers”.
In his reply the committee convener Kenny Gibson MSP wrote to Evans making clear the committee’s displeasure, and releasing the correspondence to the public.
He wrote: “We are extremely disappointed at the discourtesy shown to the Parliament by your failure to engage directly with the Committee at any stage regarding our invitation, despite our best efforts. When we finally received a response, it was not from you, but from the Office of the Permanent Secretary, stating that, as you are now on a period of leave (dating from 31 December 2021 until you retire from the UK Civil Service on 31 March 2022), you are not able to speak on behalf, or represent the views, of Scottish Ministers. At no point have we asked you to do so. We have been absolutely clear at all times that our interest lay in your own reflections, not those of Ministers, to support the Committee in developing a clearer understanding of the workings of government in our new public administration role.
Very few people have the opportunity to gain your level of experience in government, which we considered would have been beneficial in informing our future scrutiny.
We are firmly of the view that it is in the public interest for the Committee to hear from civil servants as part of our public administration remit.
You remain in the employment of the Scottish Government and we do not accept that your period of leave exempts you from giving evidence to a parliamentary committee, in the way suggested, adding given the time that has elapsed since our original approach to you and the response of 7 March 2022, we do not however intend to waste any more of our time pursuing this matter.”
An independent political observer commented: “This is the latest example of secrecy from a tired and out-of-touch government. The committee deserved to hear from the Permanent Secretary, but she has turned her back on the committee and on proper scrutiny as a result. This sets a very dangerous precedent as civil servants are obliged to appear before our parliament’s committees. This is a disappointing postscript to the former permanent secretary’s public service. It is clear that the culture of this government is to hold the parliament and the people that it represents in contempt.”
In December 2017 the Scottish Government adopted a new procedure entitled “Handling of harassment complaints involving current or former ministers” (subsequently referred to in this report as the Procedure) which is described as an “internal procedure agreed in December 2017 and published in February 2018 on the Scottish Government intranet”.
Mr Geoffrey Aberdein, former Chief of Staff to Mr Salmond, met Liz Lloyd on or about 5 March 2018. He said that she informed him that two complaints had been made against Mr Salmond and named one of the complainers. She disputes this. Where and why?
Having discussed the matter with other persons Mr Aberdein decided to inform Alec Salmond of what he had been told and did so by telephone later that week. By that time Mr Salmond had already received the letter of 7 March 2018 informing him that complaints had been made.
Afternote. The duties and responsibilities of Sturgeon’s Chief of Staff are very clearly explained in her terms of employment. She is not a civil servant but is expected to adhere to the Civil Service Code of Conduct. She is not permitted to freelance and cannot fart without the authority of the First Minister. That being the case her meeting and agenda for discussion with Aberdein would be previously agreed with Sturgeon’s authority.
Did Hamilton gather the aforementioned very relevant information?
caltonjock 