More government incompetence or corruption?

Corcaigh_the_Cat

Well-known member
Dear Corcaigh,

Lord Bethell is the Health Minister responsible for overseeing the award of Covid contracts. His time as Health Minister has been mired in controversy: from failing to declare meetings with firms that won huge Government contracts to using his personal email address to conduct Government business. Good Law Project has a particular interest in the role he played in the controversial award of lucrative contracts to Abingdon Health.

Last week in Court we argued against the Government's attempts to apply blanket redactions to documents relating to the Abingdon Health contracts. We were successful: an important step towards transparency.

But the hearing uncovered something more alarming. In sworn evidence, Government admitted that some of Lord Bethell's dealings with Abingdon had been conducted via WhatsApp or text message, and were held only on his private mobile phone. And if that was the case for Abingdon, why not other VIPs too?

What’s more, in December last year, Lord Bethell was told his mobile phone would be searched for documents relating to this case. Just weeks later, it seems, he ‘replaced’ his phone because, Government lawyers say, it was ‘broken’. They are not now sure it will be possible to retrieve WhatsApp and text messages.

Lord Bethell has overseen the award of billions of pounds of public contracts. Information revealing how these contracts came to be awarded may now be lost - or have been destroyed.

During the hearing, the Judge expressed alarm about Government’s failure to preserve evidence and insisted the ‘Order’ he made at the conclusion of the hearing refer to Government’s obligation to preserve relevant documents.

Our lawyers have written to Government to demand answers. When did Bethell learn his phone would be searched? When did he report it as broken? What attempts were made to save crucial information from his old phone? If not, why not?

This Government seems allergic to scrutiny: redacting some documents, hiding others from public scrutiny via ‘confidentiality rings’, permitting Ministers to award billions in public money via private as well as official channels, and failing to protect evidence from destruction.

We are taking action to close this accountability gap.

Thank you,

Jo Maugham - Good Law Project
 
We need to start jailing this lot.
There is very little deterrence at the moment. Five MP's who were caught trying to influence the judge in the case of Charlie Elphicke who was subsequently jailed for two years for sexual assaults on women, where barred from the commons for one day. The same punishment that Dawn Butler got for calling the PM a liar.
 
Interestingly enough the original case was civil and would end up with no legal consequences for bethel. If he is found to have destroyed evidence it is a criminal matter, providing the evidence was destroyed after the court order to preserve and hand over data.
 
Thing is i know data can be retrieved from any phone broken or not. There are people now who are so good at micro soldering (soldering under a microscope) they can take the memory chip from a phone motherboard & solder it back onto another to recover data. Its corruption pure & simple & they think the British public are too stupid to notice. They are taking the pi** & they are so confident they will get away with it they are not even trying not hide it any more.
 
Thing is i know data can be retrieved from any phone broken or not. There are people now who are so good at micro soldering (soldering under a microscope) they can take the memory chip from a phone motherboard & solder it back onto another to recover data. Its corruption pure & simple & they think the British public are too stupid to notice. They are taking the pi** & they are so confident they will get away with it they are not even trying not hide it any more.
"they think the British public are too stupid to notice".
🤔
 
It is a sad state of affairs. I think a lot of people have just given up. I do not include myself in that number .
You’re a pretty strong guy. I really do despair now. How bad it has got so quickly and you’ll still get so many Borisettes deflecting and defending. I’m beginning to think it’s not worth the fight and letting this country fall into the backwards banana republic is heading to
 
Dear Corcaigh,

Lord Bethell is the Health Minister responsible for overseeing the award of Covid contracts. His time as Health Minister has been mired in controversy: from failing to declare meetings with firms that won huge Government contracts to using his personal email address to conduct Government business. Good Law Project has a particular interest in the role he played in the controversial award of lucrative contracts to Abingdon Health.

Last week in Court we argued against the Government's attempts to apply blanket redactions to documents relating to the Abingdon Health contracts. We were successful: an important step towards transparency.

But the hearing uncovered something more alarming. In sworn evidence, Government admitted that some of Lord Bethell's dealings with Abingdon had been conducted via WhatsApp or text message, and were held only on his private mobile phone. And if that was the case for Abingdon, why not other VIPs too?

What’s more, in December last year, Lord Bethell was told his mobile phone would be searched for documents relating to this case. Just weeks later, it seems, he ‘replaced’ his phone because, Government lawyers say, it was ‘broken’. They are not now sure it will be possible to retrieve WhatsApp and text messages.

Lord Bethell has overseen the award of billions of pounds of public contracts. Information revealing how these contracts came to be awarded may now be lost - or have been destroyed.

During the hearing, the Judge expressed alarm about Government’s failure to preserve evidence and insisted the ‘Order’ he made at the conclusion of the hearing refer to Government’s obligation to preserve relevant documents.

Our lawyers have written to Government to demand answers. When did Bethell learn his phone would be searched? When did he report it as broken? What attempts were made to save crucial information from his old phone? If not, why not?

This Government seems allergic to scrutiny: redacting some documents, hiding others from public scrutiny via ‘confidentiality rings’, permitting Ministers to award billions in public money via private as well as official channels, and failing to protect evidence from destruction.

We are taking action to close this accountability gap.

Thank you,

Jo Maugham - Good Law Project

Government by burner phone.

I contribute.
 
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