Kent corruption and Panama papers and Pleasurama

Tim Garbutt TDC Leader 2019 and MP 2020 said:



"The Pulitzer Prize now awarded to the Panama Papers investigation shines a light on the rampant and similar council corruption in Kent.


Although Kent's jumble-sale journalism would likely only gain the wooden spoon for tame reporting.



Pleasurama, Kent's largest seafront development, has been mired in dodgy deals for over a decade with the Gang of Four - Roger Latchford the 4th member of the Gang only now resigning from KCC, after the previous council leader was jailed and CEO sacked.


The Toxic Two now Three of KCC Leader Paul Carter and Legal Head Geoff Wild, cling on for another cod-election while the wipeout of UKIP in East Kent, already makes a mockery of Manston election policies.


The rapid and mysterious shifts in ownership by TDC and hurried sale for just £3M - and the Pleasurama site apparently owned now by Colin Hill plus other unknown investors - raises serious questions of council and police failure.


Not dissimilar to the rushed $1 sale ( yes, $1) of Manston airport by both Infratil and then Stagecoach's Ann Gloag.



And the Kent Police investigation into Thanet electoral fraud - the UK's largest ever - taking some 2 years of detective work for what Channel Four achieved in a few weeks - has also gone quiet.



While the Cayman Islands Arrowgrass company owning Dreamland, one of UK's largest amusement parks raises similar concerns to Pleasurama with mysterious owners and council deals.



At the very least Britain's best corrupt barristers and lawyers at One Essex Court with Lord Grabiner of BHS and secret plc shareholders - bizarrely still a Judge - and Ian Glick QC and Guy Hollingworth could be hired to whitewash the sites.



The new Bank of England and Libor scandal should be suitable pickings too for a corrupted High Court under Mann or The Crying Judge.



Certainly the glossy-bucket-with-a-hole-in-it of Action Fraud City of Police laughable initiative (merely redirecting to a local force) and HMRC crime of Andrew Conway and Jeff Rubenstein of Lawrence Stephens solicitors again raises questions of both police and law capability.



Though the missing fines and cancer victim deaths from Manston airport and Infratil, with KCC and TDC removing pollution monitors and pretending to carry out monitoring - for almost 10 years - will be harder to bury.



It's apt that Riveroak the USA company promoted by Roger Gale MP for a DCO jiggery-pokery gaming of the planning system for Manston was originally registered in the tax haven of Delaware. And the new Riveroak UK of former directors of Riveroak USA seems to be a Belize company.


I disagree with Leader Wells but it's concerning in his council role being threatened by the Riveroak UK Lawyers Bircham Dyson Bell for raising concerns over Belize and its company registrations policy and money laundering and cocaine smuggling reputation.



An appalling farce given knowledge of the Infratil corporate manslaughter crimes - and the East Kent drinking water aquifer under the runway.



And the latest Private Eye raises concerns over the Maidstone Hilton Hotel and Egyptian government ministers' funds.



The EU is leading the way on new laws for tax haven disclosures in Europe - with or without Brexit - and the UK legal and financial system is looking third-rate at best.



Kent is merely broken and corrupt with public tax wasted or siphoned off to tax havens and propping up public sector salaries and pensions through delays, whitewash and nudge-nudge-wink-wink investigations.


Even the Panama police would have acted by now."



Time for Change

@timg33


Misc:

* worth noting that then-TDC councilor was sued by TDC with a £23k charge on his house for revealing some of the council documents (Pinsett Mason and Strutt Parker?) around Pleasurama and flagged onto a mysterious Kent police Domestic Extremist database - let's hope he's elected and brings new scrutiny to these issues.

* clearly routine FOI of documents and salaries etc etc is a massive failure in Kent:

* Town Hall Rich List: KCC 26 salaries over £100k...an increase on last year: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/taxpayersalliance/pages/6911/attachments/original/1491491587/Town_Hall_Rich_List_Master.pdf?1491491587