Jowell link to Italian payoff

[T_i_B]

Dunno if this story is going to run or not but you lot can make of this what you will.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2059048,00.html

THE culture secretary Tessa Jowell has become embroiled in the scandal surrounding her husband after it emerged that she had allowed their house to be used in a financial deal. An investigation by The Sunday Times has established that Jowell signed a mortgage document that enabled her husband to bring an alleged bribe of £350,000 into Britain.

Italian prosecutors claim the money was paid by Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, for help from Jowell’s husband in two corruption hearings against the politician. Until now Jowell had avoided being drawn into the affair which has dogged her husband, David Mills, a corporate lawyer. Without her co-operation Mills would not have been able to raise a loan on their jointly owned house which enabled him to bring the Italian money onshore.

The couple’s London house and Mills’s office were raided this month by police at the request of Italian prosecutors and documents and two computers were seized.

Mills, 61, had previously tried to protect his wife, a close cabinet ally of Tony Blair who once said she would “jump in front of a bus” to save the prime minister from being drawn into the allegations. Last week he said: “Our finances are totally separate. She has no involvement in this of any kind at any level — personal, financial or at any other level — except that she’s married to me.” Yet Jowell’s signature on a joint mortgage document with Mills meant he could undertake a complicated financial transaction as part of the Italian deal.

[non sociopath skin]

1. I sincerely hope it isn't true, but the Blairites seem to be

... up to the oxsters in this repulsive slimeball and his seedy, quasi-fascist government, and his greasy tentacles are everywhere.

Perhaps Mr. Blair could be persuaded to write a nice refutation for the Observer. That would straighten everything out.

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

2. Is this the same Mr Berlusconi

with whom the Blairs have enjoyed free holiday accommodation ?

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0,9321,1283488,00.html

One wonders where this is all leading.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. It looks damn suspicious for Mills

Jowell might get away with "my husband has many financial transactions that I don't concern myself with". Whether that's the truth, I don't know. I suspect she'd realise enough to know that she should know as little as possible for her own good.

[moggie]

7. I can't see her lasting

She'd be an embarrassment handling the council elections, particularly with further revelations likely to come from Italy. The ordinary voter won't be convinced by the O'Donnell report; and if it is true, it implies someone so complacent and unquestioning that they're not suitable to run a government department.



"I had that Silvio Berlusconi in the back of the cab once"

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The Real Italian Job

Worse was to come. As Mr Mills pulled forward, he ran over an ITV cameraman’s foot, drawing a yelp of pain from him, and then promptly drove into the open door of a photographer’s car, slicing the door mirror off his own upmarket motor.

“I wonder who’s going to pay for that then?” he remarked after getting out to survey the damage.

For a moment there was contemplative silence from the assembled press pack.

Then someone riposted: “Berlusconi?”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17129-2067373,00.html

"Oy! You're only meant to blow the bleedin' doors off!"

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. It seems to me she may still have broken the Ministerial Code

Mr Mills denies that he received the money as a gift. However, the rules also say the list of interests given to a permanent secretary must include "those of a spouse or partner" and "cover all kinds of interest including financial instruments and partnerships, financial interests such as unincorporated businesses and real estate".

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/commons/story/0,,1719621,00.html

£350,000 is a significant amount of money whether it was a 'gift' (really, would anyone ever buy that as an explanation? The only people who you might receive gifts of that size from as true 'gifts' are family, or someone you live with. No billionaire goes around giving that sort of money to vague friends who have lucrative jobs), or if it was earnings (in which case who the services were rendered to should be disclosed).

And there's the question of when she really knew about the £350,000:

Ms Jowell may also be dogged by a number of awkward questions arising from her statement. She has said she was not aware until recently that a mortgage on her home was repaid after 10 weeks, in November 2000, and that she knew nothing until August 2004 of the sum used to pay it off.

This would mean that she remained unaware of the repayment at the point, 18 months later, when she and her husband applied for another loan, worth £250,000, from Mortgage Express.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1722511,00.html

Shades of Peter Mandelson here - except that rather than not disclosing an existing loan, it's that she seemed to be happy to take out another. Presumably their Mortgage Express application didn't mention the £350,000 mortgage (because it really had been paid off by that point), but Tessa (great name for this - see below) claims to not have known about the money that was used to pay it off. Is she really that cavalier with the mortgage on her house?

Meanwhile, from Private Eye:

Introducing the new

TESSA ACCOUNT

An incredible opportunity for investors. All you have to do is sign up for a TESSA and you get £350,000 paid directly via a series of offshore accounts into your bank - and you get your mortgage paid off! And it's all tax-free! Your TESSA account is guaranteed to give you a huge return of up to £350,000 overnight and you don't have to say or do anything!

Just keep your mouth shout and watch your money grow, grow, grow!!

Apply now to Il Banco di Berlusconi, Piazza di Silenzi, Milan for the investment opportunity of a lifetime sentence

WARNING: With a Tessa you can go down as well as up

[Kipling]

4. New Labour minister found to be filthy money-grubbing scum? Surely not...

[non sociopath skin]

11. ... and "New Labour Minister may be involved in deal with Berlusconi" ...

... Even more shocking!!!

The Skin

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

5. Cover of Private Eye

[Taxloss]

6. Good lord!

That photograph was taken two streets away from where I live! The bus behind Jowell is a No. 24, and that photo was taken in July 2005 at the Family Assistance Centre that was set up off Wilton Road in SW1 to aid those affected by the 7/7 bombings!

What the DCMS was doing there I have no idea. But ths means that I was briefly cheek by Jowell ... (badum tish)

[T_i_B]

10. Tessa Jowell splits from husband

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4773468.stm

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and husband David Mills are to separate, it has been revealed.
Mr Mills' lawyer said their marriage had been put under "strain" by the controversy over their finances.

Ms Jowell was recently cleared of breaching the ministers' code of conduct - because her husband did not tell her about a £344,000 gift. Lawyer Mr Mills, 60, has denied taking the money as a bribe from Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In a statement Mr Mills' solicitor, David Kirk, said Ms Jowell was angry and embarrassed by the bribery allegations.

Mr Kirk said: "This whole business has imposed a dreadful strain on my client and his marriage.

[fedsron2us]

12. I seem to remember those old British naval war films

When the ship is hit by the enemy the captain would give the order to the engine room to make smoke in attempt to hide their retreat. It looks very much that the same is being done here. Why has it taken Jowell so long to tumble her husband. If my spouse suddenly turned up with nearly half a million quid to pay off the mortgage I think I might have asked one or two questions. Is Jowell stupid or is she being 'economical with the actualite' ?. Either way she seems singularly unsuited to holding ministerial office. I wonder what price the bookies are giving on her political survival. There is too much blood in the water for the sharks in the media to be called off at this stage.

[mr blur]

13. OK. so he's a lying crook,

he gets to keep the money and they separate to save her political career. Tony has had a word with god and he says it's OK. Everybody wins.

[Kipling]

14. So she gets to keep half of his bribe, and everyone's happy.

Well, everyone that matters.