Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Corruption USA/AUSTRALIA - Nixon USA then - Obeids NSW now .. no .. these
are not nearly of the same magnitude .. just a bit of then-and-now-here-and-there

Evidence against Obeid corruption arises

Updated: 05:37, Thursday November 15, 2012



There's been more evidence against the Obeid family at the corruption inquiry looking into the conduct of some members of the former NSW Labor government.

The ICAC hearing's been told that the Obeids used inside information that coal mining would start in the NSW Bylong Valley to snap up farms sitting on lucrative coal deposits.

It's investigating former Labor minister Ian Macdonald's decision in 2008 to open the Bylong Valley to coal mining and how it benefited Eddie Obeid, another ex-minister.

Confidential documents made by Anthony Rumore, a lawyer for the Obeid family, were shown to the inquiry yesterday, revealing a meeting between Mr Rumore and Eddie Obeid's sons Paul and Gerard to discuss the beginning of coal mining in the area.

The meeting took place on June 23, 2008, but the government expression of interest in coal mining in the area wasn't issued until September 9, 2008.

Mr Rumore said the Obeids stood to gain financially from the purchase of
the farms after the EOI was issued and mining leases were granted over the land.
http://www.skynews.com.au/local/article.aspx?id=816554

Yesiree .. every country has highly corrupt people; the only new is the
type of corruption, and whether the guilty are punished .. or not ..

ASIDE: the USA's darkest political moment?

Think President Nixon's Mafia connections and his political use of them ..

1960 - (Nixon as VP Nixon pressured Mafia/CIA to assassinate Castro) .. Nixon had been Eisenhower's "point man for Cuba and he used that role to pressure the CIA to work with the Mafia to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro before the election" ..

1972 - (facing close election, again plot to kill Castro, before the election) ..

Long-term Mafia connections .. huge bribes .. first to drop charges against Jimmy Hoffa .. then later to free him from jail.

Watergate: .. nope, not one 3rd rate attempted burglary at DNC headquarters, but .. 'dozens of illegal felonies illegal political espionage (wiretaps, surveillance, bugging, beatings) to massive corporate bribes and illegal slush funds .. early 70's only a few in Justice and Congress knew of Nixon's clear culpability'.

Those are notes from Lamar Waldron's ""WATERGATE: The Hidden History: Nixon, The Mafia, and the CIA."" ..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-smith/lamar-waldron-watergate_b_1607058.html

Note: the cover-up was NOT worse than the crime(s).

Anyway, i digress .. lol .. back to Australia ..

Coal corruption worst scam 'since Rum Corps'

Kate McClymont and Linton Besser- Date November 13, 2012


Eddie Obeid reaped millions. Photo: Jon Reid

THE family of New South Wales Labor power broker Eddie Obeid received $30 million and stood to make a further $70 million using inside information on coal exploration licences provided by disgraced former mining minister Ian Macdonald.

Not only is this ''the most important investigation ever undertaken'' by the Independent Commission Against Corruption but ''it is corruption on a scale probably unexceeded since the days of the Rum Corps,'' counsel assisting the inquiry, Geoffrey Watson, SC, said in his opening address on Monday.

Mr Obeid, the dominant factional player in the state ALP's branch, manipulated Mr Macdonald to do his bidding. This included rigging a public tender, demoting a senior official and even making changes to the state's formal coal licence maps to ensure the scam would ''confer massive cascading profits upon Mr Obeid and his family'', the inquiry heard. ''In all, decisions taken or influenced by Ian Macdonald may have enabled Eddie Obeid and his family to acquire profits in the order of $100 million,'' Mr Watson said. ''An important motive is money - a motive with a long pedigree.''

Forensic accountants have trawled through hundreds of accounts and traced thousands of payments through a complex web of trusts, shelf companies and nominee directors, which the Obeids used to disguise their activities.

Labor's Opposition Leader, John Robertson, last night suspended Mr Obeid from the party, describing allegations aired about him during the corruption hearing as ''shocking''.

''The gravity of the allegations that came out this morning at the ICAC in the opening statements are so shocking that I have moved to act immediately,'' Mr Robertson said. ''I, like most people, can't believe the magnitude and the seriousness of these allegations.''

Mr Macdonald's decisions deprived the taxpayers of NSW of tens of millions of dollars in revenue, the inquiry heard.

Instead, some of the nation's wealthiest individuals, as well as the Obeids and their associates, stood to benefit from inside information, including one deal that would have netted them $60 million each.

The inquiry heard that the Obeids had both ends of the coalmining deal sewn up. Using inside information, the family and its associates bought three adjoining properties over which Mr Macdonald would later grant an exploration licence. The profit for the Obeids and their associates from this deal alone was almost $26 million.

They also had highly confidential information about who would win the government tender. This allowed them to join forces with the successful bidder, Cascade Coal, and later extract $60 million from Cascade from an outlay of a mere $200,000, Mr Watson said.

Cascade Coal is a private company owned by Travers Duncan, John McGuigan, John Kinghorn, Brian Flannery, John Atkinson, Richard Poole, an investment banker, as well as Mr Macdonald's best friend, Greg Jones.

The inquiry heard that in October 2010 the Obeids received $30 million from Cascade and had been ''recently pressing to get the next $30 million''. Cascade tried to disguise the payment of the $30 million to the Obeids. The bank account of an eastern suburbs socialite, Amanda Poole, the wife of Richard Poole, one of the investors in Cascade, was used to transfer $7.5 million to the Obeids.

Crucially, five of the Cascade investors were directors of the much larger, publicly listed miner White Energy. Mr Duncan was the White Energy chairman and Mr Flannery was White's managing director.

The inquiry heard that each of the seven were to make $60 million when they sold Cascade to White Energy.

''For an outlay of about $1 million, Cascade Coal had acquired rights which they were reselling for $500 million,'' said Mr Watson.

This, he said, was in effect ''a kind of 'gift' of $500 million from us, the people of NSW, to the seven investors of Cascade Coal''. The beneficiaries of this ''gift'' were already ''very wealthy men'', Mr Watson said.

In the end, shareholder discontent meant the deal did not go ahead. Mr Macdonald was to have received ''a substantial payment'' when the Cascade and White Energy deal was completed. Cascade is seeking other buyers for its one asset, the Mount Penny tenement.

The inquiry heard that Alan Coutts, the deputy head of the Department of Primary Industries, was told to ''shut up'' by Mr Macdonald when he raised concerns about the licences. He was subsequently moved out of the department without warning.

with Sean Nicholls - http://www.smh.com.au/national/coal-corruption-worst-scam-since-rum-corps-20121112-298vv.html

.. sheesh .. is kinda hard to read a book when so much is happening, eh .. chuckle ..