Politicians claim case is ‘hurting institution’, as New York chambermaid’s brother tells of her floods of tears Pressure is building on Dominique Strauss-Kahn to resign as head of the International Monetary Fund, with the US treasury chief and European finance ministers questioning if he can carry on in the light of his arrest. In a speech in New York on Tuesday, Tim Geithner, the US treasury secretary, said Strauss-Khan was “obviously not in a position to run the IMF”. He said: “I think it’s important that the board of the IMF formally put in place for an interim period somebody to act as managing director.” Geithner’s comments came after Austria’s finance minister, Maria Fekter, and others, said Strauss-Kahn was damaging the IMF: “Considering the situation, that bail was denied, he has to figure out for himself, that he is hurting the institution,” she told journalists at a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels. Strauss-Kahn is being held in isolation at the notorious Rikers Island in New York, having been refused bail after denying charges of a sexual assault on a 32-year-old chambermaid. His lawyers are expected to reapply for bail on Friday; one New York tabloid reported they might be preparing to argue sexual contact was consensual. A grand jury is meeting in private to decide whether evidence is strong enough for a case to proceed over the alleged attack in a luxury Manhattan hotel suite. Jurors will announce their decision on Friday. Fekter’s Spanish counterpart, Elana Salgado, also put pressure on the IMF boss. She said the alleged crimes were “extraordinarily serious” and Strauss-Kahn needed to decide for himself if he should step down. “If I had to show my solidarity and support for someone, it would be toward the woman who has been assaulted, if that is really the case that she has been,” she said. IMF officials are also reportedly keen for Strauss-Khan to step down. Officials at the institution said they could not comment and said they had not spoken to Strauss-Kahn since his arrest. Other European officials were more supportive. “I’m very sad and upset. And he’s a good friend of mine,” the Luxembourg prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, said. “I didn’t like the pictures I’ve seen on television,” he added of footage showing Strauss-Kahn in handcuffs escorted by police. Strauss-Kahn, who had been tipped to win the French presidency as the Socialist candidate next year, is accused of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a maid at the Sofitel hotel last Saturday. He was detained by police hours later as he sat in the first class cabin of an Air France flight about to take off for Paris. He had been due to host meetings about Europe’s debt crisis. The New York Post reported that his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, might be preparing to argue sexual contact was consensual. It quoted a source close to the defence: “There may well have been consent.” Brafman told the court on Monday that forensic evidence taken by police from his client over the weekend “will not be consistent with a forcible encounter”. The brother of the alleged victim, who has not been named, told the Daily Mail his sister called him an hour after the incident and said: “Somebody has done something really bad to me.” She was crying uncontrollably, he said, claiming she told him Strauss-Kahn twice tried to force himself on her. Lawyer Jeffrey Shapiro, representing the maid, said she was from Guinea in west Africa and has a 15-year-old daughter; he said she had no agenda, had no idea who Strauss-Kahn was, felt “alone in the world” and was now in hiding. The allegations have shocked France. In a CSA poll, 57% of voters and 70% of Socialists said they thought Strauss-Kahn was the victim of a plot. The philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy said Strauss-Kahn had been his friend for 20 years and would remain so: “Charming, seductive, yes, certainly; a friend to women and, first of all, to his own woman, naturally; but this brutal and violent individual, this wild animal, this primate? Obviously no, it’s absurd.” Le Monde reported that Strauss-Kahn’s wife, Anne Sinclair, had got a call from her husband as he was travelling to the airport. He mentioned a “serious problem” but made no allusion to a hotel attack. Strauss-Kahn’s former wife, Brigitte Guillemette, defended him in an interview with Le Parisien. He is believed to have to met their daughter Camille after the alleged attack. Guillemette said it was “unthinkable” he could do what he was accused of and then lunch with his daughter minutes later. “He’s someone who is gentle. Violence is not part of his temperament,” she said. French writer Tristane Banon is considering filing a police complaint for attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn over an alleged attack in 2002. New York mayor Mike Bloomberg defended the police decision to parade the handcuffed IMF boss before the media in a so-called “perp walk”, a move that has caused outrage in France, where former French culture minister Jack Lang described it as a “lynching”. Bloomberg told reporters: “I think it is humiliating, but if you don’t want to do the perp walk, don’t do the crime. I don’t have a lot of sympathy for that. Our judicial system works where the public can see the alleged perpetrators.” The case has rocked the financial world as the IMF grapples with the European debt crisis; it led the bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, and Strauss-Kahn has been one of the bailout packages’ greatest supporters. After his arrest, the IMF’s second-in-command, John Lipsky, was named acting managing director. Among those being mentioned as possible successors are Gordon Brown, French finance minister Christine Lagarde, Kemal Dervis, a Turkish former finance minister now at the US Brookings Institution, and Mohammad El-Erian, an Egyptian award-winning author who heads the Pimco bond fund. China’s top official at the IMF, Zhu Min, is also a potential deputy managing director. France’s Socialist party met for emergency talks about its forthcoming primary race for a candidate to run against Nicolas Sarkozy next year, with Strauss-Kahn out of the picture. “There was emotion, of course, and the shock we all feel, but it is our responsibility to be up to the task,” said party leader Martine Aubry. Dominique Strauss-Kahn IMF Economics Global economy United States France Europe Dominic Rushe Angelique Chrisafis guardian.co.uk
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Deputy PM faces widespread hostility from Tories and Labour in pushing through elected second chamber A fightback by Nick Clegg ran into trouble on Tuesday when the deputy prime minister faced Tory and Labour hostility bordering on contempt in both houses of parliament as he vowed to push through an elected second chamber by 2015. In a sign of the bruising battle awaiting Clegg as he seeks to rejuvenate his leadership after an overwhelming defeat in the AV referendum, the Tory cabinet minister charged with selling the Lords reform plans cast doubt over the deputy prime minister’s timetable. Lord Strathclyde, who has privately left Tory peers in no doubt of his scepticism about Clegg’s plans to ensure that at least 80% of the upper house is elected, indicated that a parliamentary bill may not be introduced before the next general election. “If a bill came forward it would be a government bill and it would be treated as such,” Strathclyde said, appearing to cast doubt on the timetable. The intervention by the leader of the Lords, who joked with Tory peers as they tore into Clegg’s plans during an hour-long statement in the upper house, flew in the face of a commitment from David Cameron at Tuesday’s meeting of the cabinet. The prime minister, who said before the election that he regarded Lords reform as a third-term priority, was strongly supported by George Osborne as he said that he wanted to see the first elections to the reformed upper house by 2015. Cameron demonstrated his support for Clegg by sitting at his side in the Commons as the deputy prime minister unveiled his plans which contained two key elements: • A draft House of Lords reform bill that would slash the membership of the upper house from 789 to 300, of whom 80% would be elected by proportional representation via the single transferable vote. Members would each be eligible for a single term of 15 years on a non-renewable mandate. The elected peers would be phased in though three tranches starting in 2015, with 100 peers elected on each occasion. The 80% figure is a compromise between the Lib Dem manifesto, which called for a “fully elected” second chamber, and the Tory manifesto which called for a “mainly elected” one. • A white paper containing proposals for a 100% elected upper house, the Lib Dems’ preferred option. This is designed to win support from Labour which called in its manifesto for a “fully elected second chamber”, to be introduced in stages. Clegg, who promised that both proposals would be scrutinised by a cross-party committee of MPs and peers over the next year, said: “The prime minister and I are clear – we want the first elections to the reformed upper chamber to take place in 2015. But, while we know what we want to achieve, we are open-minded about how we get there. Clearly our fixed goal is greater democratic legitimacy for the other place but we will be pragmatic in order to achieve it.” He pointed out that all three parties had backed a wholly or mainly elected Lords and claimed he would use all the legislative tools at his disposal to realise the manifesto commitment of all three parties. Clegg’s remarks suggest he wants to whip the changes through parliament, and is willing even to use the Parliament Act of 1949, which would allow the government to force through a bill against opposition from the Lords. A previous judicial ruling in 2005 by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers suggested the use of the parliament act may be constrained, on fundamental constitutional changes, indicating the plans could become bogged down in the courts. But Clegg struggled in the Commons to win any support for his reforms from Tory MPs, many of whom regard the plans as irrelevant, time-consuming and from the same political stable that proposed the disastrous alternative vote referendum. One Labour MP, David Winnick, said he had never seen a government proposal met with less enthusiasm from its own side. The shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan described the plans as an anti-climax, and said it would be wrong to introduce the reforms without a referendum. Khan won cheers from Tory MPs when he said: “These proposals risk being a dog’s dinner with nobody happy at the outcome, not even the Lib Dem activists he is trying to appease.” A succession of Conservative MPs challenged Clegg. Bernard Jenkin said the plans came from the same discredited roadshow that had brought he referendum on AV. Clegg himself produced cheers across the Commons benches when he admitted his plans were not top of the public’s concerns. At the same time he said a more democratic second chamber would help improve constituents’ practical concerns such as schools and hospitals. The deputy prime minister, who had hoped to complete the unfinished business of the 1911 Parliament Act which first raised the prospect of an elected upper house, admitted that he had had to dilute his plans. “Personally I have always supported 100% elected but the key thing is not to make the best the enemy of the good. That approach has stymied Lords reform for too long. Surely at the end of the day we can all agree that 80% is better than 0%.” Strathclyde expressed strong support for the reforms as he repeated Clegg’s statement in the Lords. But he then delighted Tory sceptics as he joked that he was no expert on PR elections, adding that Clegg was “very keen” on the idea. The Lords leader appeared to set himself at odds with Clegg by declining to say whether an elected chamber would be an improvement. “Would it make things better is a good philosophical question which is very hard to answer. I dare say some things might be better, some things might be worse. But overall when the second chamber took a decision with the backing of the electorate, that would be more authoritative.” Strathclyde indicated that the joint committee that will examine the proposals would be in no rush. “I hope it will do so in a most realistic way. Everything that I have heard this afternoon leads me to believe that the joint committee will have plenty of work to do,” he said. The cross-party attacks on Clegg’s plans, which follow Cameron’s declaration that he will take the lead on amending the government’s NHS reforms, will raise questions about the deputy prime minister’s ability to rebuild his party after the Lib Dems’ electoral setbacks. Clegg is keen to take a lead on promoting the government’s plans on tackling social mobility.In his statement Clegg said he proposes to reduce the number of bishops, all from the Church of England from 26 to 12. Ministers could also be appointed to the second chamber by the prime minister. He claimed elections to the second chamber under STV, “are cast for individuals rather than parties, putting the emphasis on the expertise and experience candidates offer, rather than the colour of the rosette they wear”. This would help give greater independence from party control, Clegg said. He said he will leave it to the second chamber to decide how to select who to phase out its existing members, but one idea is for a lottery in each party. A joint committee of 13 MPs and 13 peers on which the coalition will consider the draft bill published yesterday. The committee with a government majority will report early next year. He stressed “while we know what we want to achieve we are open minded about about how we get there. Clearly our fixed goal is greater democratic legitimacy for the other place but we will be pragmatic in order to achieve it”. He faced scepticism when he denied a more democratic second chamber would not also seek to gather greater powers and not remain as at present a subservient revising chamber. “The Commons will retain ultimate say over legislation through the Parliament Acts. “It will continue to have a decisive right over the vote of supply. In order for a Government to remain in office, it will still need to secure the confidence of MPs. “The other place will continue to be a revising chamber, providing scrutiny and expertise. “Its size, electoral cycle, voting system, and terms will all help keep it distinct from the Commons – a place that remains one step removed from the day-to-day party politics that, quite rightly, animates this House. “What will be different is that our second chamber will finally have a democratic mandate. It will be much more accountable as a result.” In the Lords crossbench peers’ convenor Baroness D’Souza said: “I would be much more in favour of abolishing the House of Lords altogether and appointing external scrutiny committees than having an elected chamber. “I cannot be convinced that an elected House would be able to do its work better than it does so at present.” Constitutional reform House of Lords Nick Clegg Conservatives Liberal Democrats Patrick Wintour Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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TV presenter’s lawyers announce legal proceedings three days after Sienne Miller accepted £100,000 in damages Ulrika Jonsson has become the latest high-profile figure to announce their intention to take legal proceedings against the News of the World over alleged phone hacking. Making the announcement, the law firm Mishcon de Reya confirmed that the television presenter will be represented by media law specialist Charlotte Harris, who is also acting for Sky Sports commentator Sky Andrew, actor Leslie Ash, and several MPs. The announcement comes three days after actor Sienna Miller accepted £100,000 in damages and an unconditional admission from the News of the World that it had used information from eavesdropped voicemails to publish articles on her relationship with Jude Law. Last month News International, which owns the News of the World, admitted liability over a number of phone-hacking cases involving the paper, and set up a compensation scheme to deal with “justifiable claims”. It is estimated that £20m has been earmarked for payouts. A number of other high-profile names, including former culture secretary Tessa Jowell, have received apologies from the paper. Since January, when the Metropolitan police reopened its inquiry into claims that staff hacked into the messages of celebrities and politicians, three News of the World journalists have been arrested. Scotland Yard has endured repeated criticism over its handling of the original phone-hacking inquiry, which led to the conviction of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007. Phone hacking News of the World Newspapers & magazines News International guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …TV presenter’s lawyers announce legal proceedings three days after Sienne Miller accepted £100,000 in damages Ulrika Jonsson has become the latest high-profile figure to announce their intention to take legal proceedings against the News of the World over alleged phone hacking. Making the announcement, the law firm Mishcon de Reya confirmed that the television presenter will be represented by media law specialist Charlotte Harris, who is also acting for Sky Sports commentator Sky Andrew, actor Leslie Ash, and several MPs. The announcement comes three days after actor Sienna Miller accepted £100,000 in damages and an unconditional admission from the News of the World that it had used information from eavesdropped voicemails to publish articles on her relationship with Jude Law. Last month News International, which owns the News of the World, admitted liability over a number of phone-hacking cases involving the paper, and set up a compensation scheme to deal with “justifiable claims”. It is estimated that £20m has been earmarked for payouts. A number of other high-profile names, including former culture secretary Tessa Jowell, have received apologies from the paper. Since January, when the Metropolitan police reopened its inquiry into claims that staff hacked into the messages of celebrities and politicians, three News of the World journalists have been arrested. Scotland Yard has endured repeated criticism over its handling of the original phone-hacking inquiry, which led to the conviction of News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007. Phone hacking News of the World Newspapers & magazines News International guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Suspected member of child trafficking gang jailed for £800,000 benefits fraud
May 17, 2011 No Comment
• Romanian masterminded fraud targeting state handouts • Crime ring’s haul enriched Romanian town of Tandarei A leading member of a Romanian criminal gang, which is believed by police to be responsible for trafficking 181 children to Britain, has been jailed for conspiracy to defraud the benefits system. Telus Dumitru, 36, was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail after pleading guilty to masterminding a £800,000 fraud involving UK housing benefit, tax credits, income support and child benefit. Dumitru is believed by police to be the most senior UK-based figure so far brought to justice from a Roma gang from south-east Romania whose members are accused of trafficking children who then beg and steal across the south of England. Seven other gang members from near the small town of Tandarei were also sentenced at Southwark crown court, while 26 more remain on trial in Romania on charges of trafficking children into the UK for the purpose of forced criminality, money laundering, membership of a criminal gang and, in some cases, firearms offences. “This was a large-scale fraud which deliberately targeted the benefits system,” said Judge Stone QC. “I regard it as a serious matter that the UK benefits system was targeted from abroad in a sophisticated way.” Dumitru was “the central figure” in the operation, the judge said, in a scheme that sent large sums back to Tandarei by money transfer or cash, or via wired sterling accounts in Romania. The town has been transformed by the proceeds of the organised crime ring. Previously rundown areas in Tandarei have prospered and gang members have built dozens of new marble-floored mansions and bought luxury cars. Southwark crown court heard that Dumitru “controlled and directed” the benefit fraud activities of at least seven other adult Romanians in the UK who were linked by blood or marriage. Sentencing Dumitru’s wife, Ramona, 33, to 20 months’ jail for fraudulent claims including £50,000 in child benefit for six children, the judge highlighted “the possibility that the children are the subject of child trafficking and are not your children”. The Dumitrus insist the youngsters are their own. Dorina Dumitru, 38, the gang leader’s sister, claimed he used “goons” to enforce his will, and told social workers “she was scared her life might be at risk” after admitting he took her to cashpoints to withdraw scammed money. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years after fraudulently obtaining more than £100,000 over five years in tax credits, income support and housing benefit claimed for addresses in Liverpool, Sefton, Newcastle and Nottingham. Telus Dumitru was held responsible by the court for leading the fraud. Police seized a bin bag from under his bed in Birmingham which held 41 false Home Office letters, more than 30 false Romanian birth certificates – mostly blank – and false references. The claimants use forged Home Office documents and job references to get national insurance numbers, which were then used to claim the state handouts. Detectives say the conviction of Dumitru represents the biggest scalp for the British end of a joint Metropolitan police and Romanian national police anti-trafficking investigation called Operation Golf, which has cost at least £1m. Only four of the 85 UK convictions have been for trafficking but police insist the criminal activity is interrelated. “We have been seeking to prosecute suspected traffickers for any and all offences, with the aim of disrupting their activities to reduce their ability to traffic and exploit adults and children,” a spokeswoman for Operation Golf said. Police said a few of the 181 children concerned had been safeguarded by social services, but more than 100 were unaccounted for and presumed to no longer be in the UK. Chief Inspector Colin Carswell, who led the investigation, said: “This crime is not about Roma culture. These criminals have corrupted the norms of their community. “Either the parents are complicit in bringing their children over for exploitation, or they face intimidation and coercion from the gang to send them. Gang members have gone to parents who are facing hard times and promised to find work for their children, and the children are put on British streets.” In evidence of what the judge described as “utterly flagrant fraud”, Claudia Radu, 35, Dumitru’s sister-in-law, flew back and forth from Romania for the sole purpose of making benefit claims worth £15,000. She was stopped by police at Stansted airport, having been dropped off by Dumitru, and found to have €13,000 and £2,000 in cash, as well as cashpoint receipts detailing withdrawals using her card in Tandarei by another member of the gang, Dragasun Radu, who is among those facing charges in Romania. She was freed, having already served 158 days on remand. Adrian Radu, 33, son of one of the gang’s suspected Romania-based leaders, Constantin Radu, drew £29,000 in income support and tax credits from 2008 to 2010 while living in Romania. When police arrested him in Tandarei he was living in a recently built marble-floored, six-bedroom mansion and driving an expensive Audi Q7 car. UK government officials were criticised in court for failing to properly scrutinise the forged claims of Dumitru’s gang. The address of the Home Office immigration unit in Croydon on faked letters granting leave to remain in the UK was written as “Corydon” and the Home Office slogan of seeking a “safe, just and tolerant society” was retyped as “tolerante society”. “This was clearly a fraud which exploited laxity in the benefit system to some extent, and while sophisticated, not so sophisticated as to be undetectable had rather more care been exercised,” said Chris Hehir for the prosecution. The court also heard that a British solicitor, whom the judge ordered should not be named, enabled the fraud conducted by Dumitru, since the latter was illiterate and spoke almost no English upon his arrival in the UK. The solicitor helped Dumitru get indefinite leave to remain in the UK and, in return, Dumitru referred other members of the Roma community to the solicitor, whose practice flourished. A confiscation hearing was scheduled for September. Crime Romania Europe Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Child benefit Housing benefit Robert Booth guardian.co.uk
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Young Afghans being coerced into joining jihad with threats of violence and promises of martyrdom The Taliban gave Noor Mohammad a simple choice – either they would cut off his hand for stealing or he could redeem himself and bring glory on his family by becoming a suicide bomber. Held in Taliban custody in a different village from his parents, after allegedly stealing mobile phones during a wedding party in his village, the 14-year-old boy went for the second option. He was soon being given basic lessons in how to use a handgun, which he would use to shoot the guards at a nearby US military base in Ghazni, a province in south-east Afghanistan which is considered the most violent in the country. He was also fitted with a suicide vest that covered his torso with explosives. He was told that when inside the base he should touch two trailing wires together, killing himself and as many US and Afghan soldiers as possible. Having kitted the soon-to-be martyr out in his jihadi outfit, the insurgents took photos and sent him on his way. Such is one method by which the Taliban recruit a growing number of children used for suicide missions. A tactic pioneered by al-Qaida but almost unheard of in Afghanistan until 2005, suicide bombing is becoming more popular with insurgents attempting to meet the massively intensified Nato campaign with their own surge of violence. In one recent case a 12-year-old boy in Barmal district in Pakitika province, which borders Pakistan, killed four civilians and wounded many more when he detonated a vest full of explosives in a bazaar. “They are relying more and more on children,” said Nader Nadery, from the country’s Independent Human Rights Commission, who thought the Taliban were struggling to recruit enough adults. “When somebody runs out of one tool they go to use the second one.” Mohammad, who talked to the Guardian on Tuesday at a children’s prison in Kabul, is awaiting trial after surrendering to the Americans rather than going through with the attack. He says he was left by his Taliban handlers to walk the last few miles to the base in Andar district two weeks ago. Instead he sat down and thought about his predicament. “It is a sin to kill yourself and to kill others,” he decided. “So I took off the vest and threw it away.” Surrendering proved tricky as the guards he had been supposed to kill were slow to raise the alert and he was questioned only after sleeping outside the camp for a night. He later led the Americans to the village where the Taliban members lived, identifying a house where the Americans recovered weapons and homemade explosives. Two Taliban from the village were also killed during a shootout after he identified them, Mohammad said. He knows that because he will never be able to go back to his village and will probably never see his family again. Not all bombers are coerced. Some are tricked, like a group of four children who were recently arrested after travelling alone across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Lutfullah Mashal, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said his spy agency’s informants in Peshawar had raised the alarm that the four were on their way. The boys had confessed during questioning, telling the security forces they believed only American soldiers would die when they detonated their bombs and that they would escape unscathed. But, speaking on Tuesday, they claimed they were forced into making a confession after being beaten and threatened with rape by police. Their new account is hard to believe, however, and at times contradictory. According to Fazal Rahman, a tearful nine-year-old made all the more distressed by the loss of two teeth at the dentist, the idea to travel to Afghanistan came from Maulavi Marouf, the mullah in charge of the Spin Jumad madrasa in the town of Khairabad. They say an “uncle” in Kabul phoned Marouf asking him to send some physically weak children for a couple of days of manual labour, unloading a delivery of car batteries from lorries. None of the boys, who are Afghans but have lived in Pakistan all their lives, has an address or phone number for the man. Nor did they think it necessary to tell their parents they were going to Kabul. “Our family is very poor,” said Niaz Mohammad, a nine-year-old who said he used to help his father beg. “When I was promised 50,000 rupees [£360] to go to Afghanistan, I went immediately.” But they all describe the madrasa as an institution that cultivated in them a hatred for American soldiers in Afghanistan. “All the time in Friday prayers the maulavi talked about the Americans in Afghanistan and he told us that we should do jihad, especially on Fridays,” he said. It is feared that hundreds of children may have been radicalised and turned into bombers in what Haneef Atmar, Afghanistan’s former interior minister, describes as “hate madrasas”. Suicide bombing has also developed a sinister glamour among the youth of the Pakistan’s tribal areas. A video in which a group of children enact a suicide bombing has circulated widely in Pakistan in February, sparking public alarm at how jihad appears to have reached the playground . It also seems to have reached the Kabul juvenile detention centre where staff are trying to give the mix of criminals and would-be jihadists a proper education. “When I told my cellmates I refused to do a suicide attack, none of them could understand why I didn’t do it,” said Mohammad. Taliban Afghanistan Global terrorism Children Jon Boone guardian.co.uk
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