Questions for Boris over corrupt property deal – kittysjones

Last Updated: November 14, 2014By

Boris Johnson is under fire over his handling of a £1bn deal for a Chinese firm to redevelop a huge site on London’s historic Royal Albert Dock, according to Channel 4 News – and thanks to kittysjones for blogging it.

A Chinese firm’s human rights record “wasn’t relevant”, Mayor of London Boris Johnson tells Political Correspondent Michael Crick, after a £1bn property deal.

This follows an investigation by Channel 4 News into the track record in China of the firm which won the contract – ABP – and into whether ABP were given favourable treatment during the tender process.

There are also questions over donations to the Conservative Party from an Anglo-Chinese businesswoman who acted as adviser to ABP.

Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the government’s Committee on Standards in Public Life, suggested to Channel 4 News there should be an independent investigation into the tendering process for the development, which will take place on publicly-owned land.

“It has the smell of a semi-corrupt arrangement, doesn’t it?” he told Channel 4 News:

“If, in fact, somebody is going through a sham process to ensure that someone they want to be successful in the process, but it’s not a level playing field for UK companies, and there have been some financial transactions of an intimate nature then that smells to me of a semi corrupt arrangement.”

Read the rest on the kittysjones blog.

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5 Comments

  1. Harry November 14, 2014 at 3:04 pm - Reply

    You know Mike, before entering any debate on the subject of China, the books, and interviews of Anthony Sutton are required reading.

    The unbelievable and grotesque rush to outsource almost all western manufacturing to China: Which in my view is tantamount to treason given the technology transfers involved, is related directly to maters discussed at ddepth by Mr Sutton, and long planned by the PTB.

    In fact I do not agree to endless intellectual rights (and nor it seems does China), but the general population are hounded and threatened over a downloaded song while Governments have in their neoliberal feeding frenzy betrayed us on every level that it is possible to do so.

  2. Florence November 14, 2014 at 5:35 pm - Reply

    Old Etonian, public resources to privatise, Chinese oligarchs, what could go wrong?

    (One could also enquire about the same unseemly rush by another Old Etonian to sell our nuclear power investment to the Chinese and a French front company with public-funded, eye-watering guaranteed electricity prices…….to the same Chinese company whose own nuclear developments were “unsatisfactory” in regards to health & safety and land-clearances etc.)

  3. casalealex November 14, 2014 at 8:33 pm - Reply

    http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/13/boris-johnson-rejects-claims-chinese-firm

    Here is some background:

    The £1 billion Royal Albert Dock development is the first for ABP outside of China and the land was acquired through a development agreement with the GLA in May 2013. In September, 2013 ABP announced it would also locate its global headquarters in London, with ABP Beijing becoming the Asia-Pacific headquarters.

    The £1 billion investment to create the Asian Business Port at Royal Albert Dock in London will result in up to 20,000 jobs, and generate £6 billion to the London economy. It will be a platform for those companies to thrive and prosper and will be the economic engine that will power the economic growth of the Royal Docks.

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  4. amnesiaclinic November 15, 2014 at 1:16 pm - Reply

    Very interesting recent Corbett Report on Chinese co-operation from Mao on. The illusion we are against China and Russia is just that.

    Well worth watching and makes a lot very clear.

    The 0.1% are not interested in nationalism. That’s just for the little people to wave their flags and give them something to fight over and believe in.

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