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Craig Murray
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« A Blair Foundation with Purpose | Main | What Is A Student Union? »

February 17, 2009

Tessa Jowell Should Be Charged With Money Laundering

David Mills has been given a jail sentence in Italy for corruption, though sadly he will probably escape jail as the rich and well connected normally do.

Tessa Jowell actively participated in the laundering of the corrupt payments from Silvio Berlusconi, given to her husband David Mills in return for false testimony in court to cover up some of Berlusconi's endless crooked dealings. Tessa Jowell participated as a full partner in the three time remortgaging of her home, paying off the mortgage with cash and then remortgaging. She has stated that there was "Nothing unusual" in this.

Most people would think it was very unusual to be able to pay off a large mortgage with cash at all. To do it twice and remortgage again each time would strike most of us as very weird indeed.

Which illustrates the gap between the hierarchy of "New Labour" and the "Hard working families" who are Gordon Brown's favourite soundbite. This is illustrated by Mills' description of £500,000 as "not very much".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/17/david-mills-berlusconi-trial-letter
This is of a piece with Jacqui Smith's ripping off the taxpayer of £150,000 by pretending her sister's home is her main residence, then wondering what the fuss is about. That would be ten year's salary for the British soldier killed today in Afghanistan.

Nobody who reads Mills' letter to his accountant (above link) can doubt that he is a crook. This particular Berlusconi deal was just one part of his bent practice, which included the financial arrangements for organised crime in Italy to sell on infected and condemned human blood from the USA into transfusion services in Europe. Tessa Jowell lived off these criminal earnings for decades and actively participated in laundering the cash.

Either Jowell did not notice she was living with a major criminal - in which case she is far too stupid to be a minister - or she was complicit - in which case she is far too corrupt to be a minister.

No ifs or buts are possible.

Only when Mills was exposed to the media did Jowell abandon her husband - sacrificing her marriage for her political career. If she had remained loyal to him it would have at least been some slight saving grace. In fact the woman is a total disgrace.

Posted by craig on February 17, 2009 9:27 PM in the category UK Policy


Comments

It's also very interesting how keen she was/is on super casinos; ideal places for massive money laundering.
May be Nu-Labour are not really politicians but a gang of thugs running vast scams on the taxpayers.

Posted by: Ruth at February 17, 2009 10:03 PM


Craig, if she sues you do you have the solid evidence to back up these allegations? I hope so not only for your sake but for the public good.

Posted by: anticant at February 17, 2009 10:16 PM


According to her WIKI entry, she voted against the transparency of parliament:
* Voted against a transparent Parliament.
* Voted for introducing a smoking ban.
* Voted for introducing ID cards.
* Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
* Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
* Voted for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
* Voted for the Iraq war.
* Voted against investigating the Iraq war.
* Voted for replacing Trident.
* Voted for the hunting ban.
* Voted for equal gay rights.
* Voted to continue closing Post Offices.

I guess she doesn't need the post office, as her money is safe as houses.

Posted by: JimmyGiro at February 18, 2009 1:41 AM


Well done craig. This was only ever a move to disguise her involvevement with her husbands criminal dealings. New Labour are as sleazy and corrupt as you can get. The next couple of years will be "fill your boots time" for them.

OUT NOW BEFORE THEY GET THE CHANCE

Posted by: Juan Kerr at February 18, 2009 1:46 AM


You can corroborate para 5 Craig?

Posted by: MJ at February 18, 2009 1:51 AM


Interesting to note that the BBC glossed over the major significance of this news item by titling it as "UK lawyer guilty in bribery case" - no mention of the Nu-Lab ministerial connections.

As usual, to complain start here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml

Posted by: Merlin Cox at February 18, 2009 2:11 AM


"Mills is the brother-in-law of Dame Barbara Mills, QC, the former Director of Public Prosecutions and of the Serious Fraud Office." [The Times]

You couldn't make it up!

Posted by: anticant at February 18, 2009 6:58 AM


"This particular Berlusconi deal was just one part of his bent practice, which included the financial arrangements for organised crime in Italy to sell on infected and condemned human blood from the USA into transfusion services in Europe."

Sounds like a latter-day Harry Lime-style scam. Is Berlusconi an Orson Welles fan?

Posted by: anticant at February 18, 2009 7:19 AM


The hilarious first para. in this Independent article by Sean O'Grady is strangely repeated. Some of her 'cronies' are listed.

http://tiny.cc/v50De

I also seem to recall a recent story where travellers arrived on land adjacent to her posh country estate in the Midlands. I think the local Council helpfully intervened to get them removed.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article952861.ece

Posted by: mary at February 18, 2009 8:14 AM


Hard to know what to feel, glad the bastard has been caught but saddened that this happened on our watch.

Posted by: Daniel Hoffmann-Gill at February 18, 2009 9:57 AM


"Mills has said the letter described a hypothetical situation as a way of soliciting tax advice for an unnamed client" (Telegraph) http://tinyurl.com/dlkvup

Posted by: MJ at February 18, 2009 11:26 AM


It`s run of the mill stuff for the political set up the world over.That is why we are in such a mess.These people are a cancer in/on the body of humanity.

Posted by: George Dutton at February 18, 2009 11:38 AM


I'm just waiting for EddieTroll(TM) to creep out of the shadows and heal our critically wounded perspectives by telling us Tosser Jowel makes Florence Nightingale like a scullery maid. Come on EddieTroll(TM)

Posted by: lwtc247 at February 18, 2009 1:55 PM


@ anticant at February 18, 2009 6:58 AM
Incestuous little bunch arn't they?

Here once sailed the good ship Britannia. Sunk by internal sleeze, Devil worship, friends of Zion mutineers and the most simple of principles such as 'morality'.

May God curse her and those who sailed in her.

Posted by: lwtc247 at February 18, 2009 2:04 PM


@ Ruth:

"May be Nu-Labour are not really politicians but a gang of thugs running vast scams on the taxpayers."

Maybe? MAAAAYYYYBBEEEEE???? I think you'll find the jury is not only no longer out on this decision, but in fact came back, delivered it's guilty verdict and went home for tea many years ago! ;)

Posted by: Vim at February 18, 2009 3:49 PM


@ Ruth:

"May be Nu-Labour are not really politicians but a gang of thugs running vast scams on the taxpayers."

Maybe? MAAAAYYYYBBEEEEE???? I think you'll find the jury is not only no longer out on this decision, but in fact came back, delivered it's guilty verdict and went home for tea many years ago! ;)

Posted by: Vim at February 18, 2009 3:49 PM


lwtc247

and what pray is wrong with a scullery maid ?

Posted by: john at February 18, 2009 4:23 PM


Craig, your allegation about Berlusconi, organised crime and infected blood is dynamite, but I can find no other reference to it.

The nearest I can find is a story from 2005 about Immucor, a multinational blood bank technology and diagnostics firm, which discovered that its German subsidiary had made clandestine payments to the then Italian minister of health Girolamo Sirchia, formerly head of the Blood Transfusion Center of Milan's Policlinic http://tinyurl.com/dj8xem

Are the two related?

Posted by: MJ at February 18, 2009 4:29 PM


If ever Tessa Jowell is found to be either corrupt or stupid and is forced from office she can hardly use the old politician's reason of 'leaving politics to spend more time with her family', since she did exactly the reverse only a short time ago.

Posted by: david at February 18, 2009 7:51 PM


Nothing John, that's part of the point. Well, nothing that is unless it's through the twisted lens of EddieTroll(TM)

Posted by: lwtc247 at February 18, 2009 9:42 PM


Once again, the annoying 'black hole' filter has come up, and from past experience, that means I have to kiss my last post goodbye (and all the time I spent writing it). Craig, please do something about that. So I will repost here.

@ MJ

So to TheDossier's website http://tinyurl.com/6z9cb5 click on video, then drugs and money. Scroll about half way down. You should find this...


BBC Panorama - The Price of Blood
On the eve of his appearance in an Italian court on tax, money laundering and potentially corruption charges, Panorama examines the career of David Mills. His links to Silvio Berlusconi are well known and form the basis of next month's charges. But after examining many hundreds of documents here and in Italy Panorama looks at a less well known episode literally involving bad blood.

There you will find a link to a possible stream, but the spineless BBC may have pulled it.

Posted by: lwtc247 at February 18, 2009 10:09 PM


I hate the idea of making an example of anybody, but I hate malfeasance even more.

Do you think the media's lurid obsession with crime committed by us lowly people is a constant decoy for our glorious leaders to distract us by?

After all, it's common practice for governments to bury bad news behind a disaster headline, so why not hide shame behind a 'crime wave'.

Posted by: JimmyGiro at February 18, 2009 11:16 PM


The BBC Panorama - The Price of Blood has been pulled but the text is still available via the Wayback Machine http://tinyurl.com/bufe33

Posted by: geomannie at February 18, 2009 11:34 PM


More here.

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2006/10/09/bbc-panorama-david-mills/


ineresting to see JOHN SWEENY on the ball - the wrong ball that is, as is so common of JOHN SWEENY.

does anyone know if JOHN SWEENY advertises strepsils?

Posted by: lwtc247 at February 19, 2009 12:13 AM


Thanks for that link geomannie. The transcript of the Panorama programme is still there but the readers' comments have nothing to do with Mills but are concerned with sexual abuse in the Catholic church and the killing of Harry Stanley by the police.
??

You wouldn't be able to find that bit of video of Mills driving off from the then marital home and knocking someone's car mirror off. Still makes me laugh to think about it.

Posted by: mary at February 19, 2009 6:49 AM


I think Ms Jowell should be in the chokey with her husband; in fact, now I come to think of it further, I'm not sure which of the government ministers might escape the nick if Mr Plod would just do his job (i.e. administering the law on our behalf) and stop acting as the enforcement arm of the Home Office.

Ms Jowell's ministry really needs to be subbed a bit, like Private Eye suggested when it was concocted. It should read "Department for Sport, Culture And Media" (or SCAM for short).

Posted by: dean_saor at February 19, 2009 9:11 AM


lwtc247 & geomannie:

Thanks for the links

Posted by: MJ at February 19, 2009 9:45 AM


Problem is, the Panorama transcript doesn't actually implicate Berlusconi in the infected blood scandal.

Posted by: MJ at February 19, 2009 2:54 PM


"Problem is, the Panorama transcript doesn't actually implicate Berlusconi in the infected blood scandal."

Maybe Berlusconi has a higher I.Q.?

Seriously, we need to elect a better class of sleaze in the next election; our cabinet are far too easy to catch.

Maybe that's why Berlusconi is their 'friend', as he knows a good dupe when he smells one.

Posted by: JimmyGiro at February 19, 2009 5:18 PM


http://www.spanglefish.com/freemanscotland/

Scottish Freemen

Posted by: Dave A at February 20, 2009 8:01 AM


Two reasons for posting, one is to provide a link to the Daily Mail feature on Ms Jowell
http://tinyurl.com/cbm5yp

and the other to see if I actually am allowed to do so.

Previous attempts have been intercepted for holding pending approval. How long does approval take or is there a glitch somewhere?

Posted by: Rowdy at February 20, 2009 11:11 AM


Rowdy

That happened to me once and it was bacause my Name and E-mail Address fields were blank when I posted.

Posted by: MJ at February 20, 2009 2:58 PM


MJ, thanks for the tip. The problem thread is 'In Development Hell'.

The Name and Email fields are completed, Remember Me is selected, I can post here and have even posted previously in 'In Development Hell'.

I have just tried to repost for the third time but get the intercept screen.

So it looks like a glitch somewhere.

Posted by: Rowdy at February 20, 2009 5:13 PM


Amazing. The Daily Mail article - and especially Stephen Glover's column - is almost better than Craig's original entry above.

Posted by: The Cartoonist at February 20, 2009 7:56 PM


well nice to meet all you Scotties - talkin sense as usual .
On gays and what it matters well im transexual and i find most of my peers are

Posted by: tarron at February 23, 2009 2:51 AM


I see ['Guardian', 24 Feb] that Ms Jowell has written an article exhorting Labour to "step outside its comfort zone" and to address the issues that concern "the aspirational working class".

Presumably she's thinking of comfort zones such as thrice-mortgaged houses and taxpayer subsidised second homes, and aspirational workers such as her husband-at-arms-length, David Mills.

Posted by: anticant at February 24, 2009 8:21 AM


The modern working man doesn't sweat, he aspires.

Posted by: JimmyGiro at February 24, 2009 12:10 PM


I'm tired of all this talk. All talk, no action. Typical Britain. Typical politics. Just all egos. Attack Labour, but do you think the damn TORIES give a toss? I'm off.

Posted by: Other John at February 24, 2009 9:20 PM


Re the separation of Mr Mills and Ms Jowell. I've heard of a marriage of convenience, do we have here a divorce of convenience?

Posted by: Dr Paul at February 25, 2009 6:56 PM


They aren't divorced. They are just conveniently separated. They are frequently seen around town together.

Posted by: anticant at February 25, 2009 8:25 PM


March 2 2009

"RBS awards chairman £1.5m in share options"...

http://tinyurl.com/ajuk3g

Posted by: George Dutton at March 3, 2009 1:14 PM


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