Disgraceful BBC Panorama Propaganda Hides Grim Truth About Britain 108


Richard Bilton of the BBC today exposed himself as the most corrupt and bankrupt of state media shills – while pretending to be fronting an expose of corruption. There could not be a more perfect example of the western state and corporate media pretending to reveal the Panama leak data while actually engaging in pure misdirection.

In a BBC Panorama documentary entitled Tax Havens of the Rich and Powerful Exposed, they actually did precisely the opposite. The BBC related at length the stories of the money laundering companies of the Icelandic PM and Putin’s alleged cellist. The impression was definitely given and reinforced that these companies were in Panama.

Richard Bilton deliberately suppressed the information that all the companies involved were in fact not Panamanian but in the corrupt British colony of the British Virgin Islands. At no stage did Bilton even mention the British Virgin Islands.

Company documents were flashed momentarily on screen, in some cases for a split second, and against deliberately unclear backgrounds. There is no chance that 99.9% of viewers would notice they referred to British Virgin Islands companies. But instantly reading a glimpsed document is an essential skill for a career diplomat, and of course I happen to know immediately what BVI or Tortola mean on a document. So I have been back and got screenshots of those brief flashes.

Screenshot (17)

Screenshot (14)

Screenshot (15)

Is it not truly, truly, astonishing the British Virgin Islands were not even mentioned when the BBC broadcast their “investigation” of these documents?

In deliberately obscuring the key role of the British money-laundering base of British Virgin Islands in these transactions, the BBC have demonstrated precisely why the entire database has to be released to the scrutiny of the people, rather than being filtered by the dubious honesty of state and corporate journalists. The BBC targeting of two very low level British minions at the end of their programme does not alter this.

The BBC could also address why their Pacific Quay HQ in Glasgow is leased for £100 million from a hidden ownership company in the Cayman Islands.


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108 thoughts on “Disgraceful BBC Panorama Propaganda Hides Grim Truth About Britain

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  • Bort

    For some reason, the tweet about this post doesn’t appear on my Twitter feed. The previous one does, but not this one, though I can see both if I go to Craig’s page.

    I don’t want to assume there is something suspicious about this, but it seems odd.

  • fedup

    Thanks Craig for highlighting the egregious role of the propagandist in the beebeecee that have been long relying on people’s ignorance (they should know ho ignorant their viewers are; gauging from the amount of bunkum and bullshit they feed their audiences, the very same people whom pay their propaganda tax and have no way out of it) carry on their broadcast with no let or hindrance.

    At least this site in the cyber space is brining the truth into the attention despite every efforts of the oligarch owned media and the state propaganda organs. It is years since I have watched the beebeecee, pointless to even attempt to watch a bunch of liars and half truth tellers in the hope of seeing a change in their conduct. The seamless echo chamber that has been brought about with the help of the current bunch of lairs and preestitutes can only be ruptured by the likes of you Craig.

    Well done that man and power to your elbows/fingers/mind mate!

    • Pan

      Hear, hear.
      __________

      “people whom pay their propaganda tax and have no way out of it”

      No way out of it?

      Ditch the TV – who needs it?

  • Carl Jenkins

    Very important article, thanks Craig. Interesting to that HBSC was only based in London whereas at every oportunity it’s being passed off as British and the largest bank in Europe. Nothing about Barclay’s recent problems re money laundering which is a crime in any country. The establishment must really hate FB, Twitter and the rise of the online media, controlled by ordinary people. Our cause is so lucky to have former ‘insiders’ like Craig Murray to give us clarity on much of what’s going on right under our noses. A vital part of the jigsaw which is still missing is complete Scottish control over television in Scotland.

  • Sami

    The BBC took the opportunity to allege that friends or associates of Putin and Assad were implicated in the scandal, knowing fully well that these two gentlemen will not sue for libel. I have lost all faith in the BBC which now looks more like the ‘brainwashing’ than ‘broadcasting’ corporation.

  • Margaret Black

    Doesn’t surprise me in the least , the BBC is not where you will ever find the truth , it got lost many years ago , or maybe we just woke up to their lies at last .

    • K Crosby

      TradBBC was always an establishment mouthpiece but COMbbc its undead corpse, doesn’t even bother to pretend.

  • Paul Barbara

    @ Ba’al Zevul April 5, 2016 at 09:24
    ‘This might have something to do with it (sorry about the source):
    http://order-order.com/2012/11/26/the-guardians-offshore-secrets-guardian-media-group-still-operates-caymans-company/
    Why apologise over the source? I’d never heard of them; if they get truth out, more power to their elbow.

    I searched diligently (and totally unsuccessfully) for a Guardian article which had a ‘comments’ section, planning to quote some of Guido’s info. Very selective are the Guardian.
    Good find, though, Ba’al.

  • Republicofscotland

    Why doesn’t the British government take control of the BVI, and open the ledgers for scrutiny. They afterall seized control of Turks and Caicos over sleaze allegations.

    In my opinion, the BBC is a state propaganda machine, constantly pushing the establishment line, don’t expect to see fair and honest reporting from the Ministry of Truth.

  • Clydebuilt

    T Shirt slogan of the year

    “Is That a Fact Or Did You Get It From The BBC”

  • Francis

    The power of the City of London and its satellites such as the BVI is remarkable. Only last week it was announced that the so called Mis selling of PPI was going to cost another 23 billion. This now makes the cost of the PPI fraud £46 bn – by far the largest fraud on the UK ever. How did this fail to be investigated as the fraudulent practice it really was? Mis-selling as in Mis-take it most certainly was not. It was clearly deliberate. So why no investigation? — because of course the financial leadership in the City are involved. They are too powerful. There was not a single raid, not a single interrogation – no cuffs at dawn. It is really most odd – but perhaps it is because the city of London Police are regulated by the City of London – who are elected by….the financial companies in the City of London. The Serious Fraud Office was the only other agency – and it declined to be involved (why I wonder – was it not serious enough for them? Or did they get frightened they would tread on too many bankers’ toes at once?)

    • Nibs

      Excellent post. When will a serious team of journalists and economists do a proper job on the City of London ? There would be hundreds of whistle-blowers available. The supposed power and brilliance of the City is (for me) directly correlated to the trashing of British industry and small and medium manufacturing. It is way too powerful in the economic landscape, under-regulated, and has done nothing to shore up our catastrophic balance of payments. It also tragically swallows up a large proportion of our university talent and makes them into paper-shifters and spivs with little added value to the country. Yes I write with experience. And no it isn’t sour grapes.

  • Chris

    The Panorama documentary did seem a bit rushed but it’s intemperate, to say the least, to blame the entire BBC for “deliberately obscuring” the overall tax havens story. Newsnight later in the evening made copious reference to the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands (alongside Switzerland, Singapore, Hong Kong and a variety of other offenders), with Kirsty Wark stressing more than once that 50% of this activity went through British dependencies. Vince Cable was interviewed on the subject and treated with notable sympathy, even when he called for the imposition of “direct rule” on the offending territories to force them to conform to British tax law.

    • John Monro

      Thanks Chris, your alternative view is worth reading – I live in NZ and can’t follow all the news in the UK. Still, Panorama is what the BBC would call its most important current affairs television programme, and it does seem from Craig’s comments that their investigation followed a pretty restricted path. The problem for so many now is that we have totally lost faith with our politicians and the media, so that it is quite believable that Panorama did deliberately underplay the role of British territories in their investigation. It is possible too to believe that the US itself was implicated in the leak of the Panama papers or that the leaks are being manipulated to deal selectively to some and not others by the so-called International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, considering their funding comes from some pretty right wing organisations. Conspiracy is the twin of distrust, or two sides of the same coin.

  • Stuart

    Disband the BBC. Take away all public money until they can be shown to be impartial.

  • david nathan

    Do not watch BBC news anymore it is so biased towards the tory party its a waste of time.

  • Madame Defarge

    To hide the grim import of the Unaoil leaks, the British regime selectively exposes its financial corruption. Poms used to get the joke of “Your wife, under pretense of keeping a bawdy-house, is a receiver of stolen goods.” Now Brits solemnly live out their lives as the butt.

  • Charles price

    It’s shocking but as we know in Scotland after the referendum last year the aftermath of numties that ran amock the night after in Glasgow because of a establishment forced vote result nothing was broadcast ! Ignorance is bliss or that’s what BBC think ! They are mistaken none of us are fooled by their diseption they are what they are for the establish force of government that bend every truth to suit needs of the ruling power let’s be afraid very afraid if BBC are the voice of dimocracy !

  • Bob Nugent

    It is astonishing that they get away with these manipulations
    What chance have ordinary people got when the corruption is in all walks of life
    We have no way of exposing or better still bring these people to book.

  • Peter Morgan Barnes

    Craig’s investigation of this programme is very important and questions need to asked of those who commissioned Bilton’s programme, those responsible for monitoring it, and Bilton’s wider connections to the BVI and the world of off-shore accounts. The compliance department of the BBC should also be involved. There are sins of commission and sins of omission !

  • lysias (DON'T FEED THE TROLLS)

    The procedure that one has to go through to make a formal complaint to the BBC which it is obliged to respond to is described in some detail in G.A. Ponsonby’s London Calling: How the BBC Stole the Referendum. In the case described in the book, the BBC’s response was long delayed and unsatisfactory. But they did have to respond.

  • Joan Brown

    Thank you for noticing and caring. Thank you for publicising this Misinformation from BBC. Please keep on with this investigative journalism. We (society) needs you.

  • ComptonArthur

    Really what did the people expect from the BBC who are the mouth piece of the right wing controlled Zionist Goverment. The sooner Scotland is Independent the better then the people of England will see how they ar being urinated on .

  • John Monro

    Thanks Craig, one of your best efforts. The problem for us is that propaganda works, that deliberate misuse of information is just so effective when it comes from powerful institutions such as the BBC and so much of the mass media. When the state and the media collude, It really is very hard to shatter the curtained windows of reality. One huge blow would be enough, you’d think, but in truth it will only come from repeated assaults gradually wearing away the façade of the building and undermining its foundations. When it goes it will collapse completely and without warning, and unfortunately quite a lot of bystanders are likely to get hurt.

  • Heather Robertson

    Investigate- no. Truthful – no. Deliberately Biased – yes. Pointless – yes. A waste of my licence fee – yes. Tell the truth or don’t report to the UK public in these trashy, skim style documentaries. BBC I the pockets of the rich again. Why bother ??

  • Casper1066

    I put in a complaint to the BBC yesterday using this information, awaiting a reply.

  • Roger Ewen

    Well done, I love reading you posts. Pity you were not available in the same capacity in an independent media.

  • Patrick cawley

    Time to ditch the Beeb as they are as corrupt as the Russian media and this Government..Set up the gallows in readiness…..

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