Stench of Corruption in London’s City Hall
The Stench of Corruption?
Ken Livingstone’s lying aide, Rosemary Emodi may have been forced to resign after finally admitting that she did after all, make a trip to Nigeria – but is this just the tip of a very big ice-berg?
Miss Emodi was the deputy to Ken Livingstone’s ‘Equality Advisor’, Lee Jasper, an individual who is already under investigation by the ‘Evening Standard’ newspaper over his links to as many as 13 ‘questionable’ projects. Projects which have, in total, received more than £3.3 million in City Hall, cash but appear to have done very little, if anything, in return.
The two projects at the centre of those investigations happen to be, ‘Brixton Base’ and the Black Londoner’s Forum’.
The director of ‘Brixton Base’, and the acting director of ‘Black Londoners Forum’ is, Errol Walters. Mr Walters, a ‘very close friend’ of Miss Emodi, took time out to accompany the ‘lady’ to Nigeria, on a fact finding mission to the five-star La Campagne Tropicana beach resort near Lagos, prices from £200 per person per night (isn’t it funny how these fact finding tours seem always to be to ‘beach resorts’?) .
Mr Walters was at the time of the trip, director of Brixton Base and acting director of the Black Londoners Forum, two projects at the centre of the Evening Standard’s investigation into 13 questionable organisations linked to Mr Jasper which have received more than £3.3 million in City Hall money but appear to have done little, if anything, in return. Incidentally, ‘Brixton Base’ went bust just 3 weeks ago, with £535,000 in City Hall money paid to it unaccounted for. The project also owes more than £190,000 in unpaid rent. A situation that must surely be reported to the police within days.
The trip that has now cost Miss Emodi her grossly overpaid position, was so it seems suggested by Lee Walters, who suggested that this resort in Nigeria could receive City Hall funding, to bring “youths of African descent from the UK” to “reconnect with their roots” in a youth camp, ‘Kamp Afrika’, which is already backed by the Greater London Authority.
For your information, ‘Brixton Base’ was set up as a “creative training hub” for ethnic minority Londoners, but only managed to run three short training courses.
Staff and students on one of the courses say that City Hall money intended to pay for their training never reached them and also allege they were subjected to actual and attempted intimidation by Brixton Base staff. It would seem that Mt Walters also has some serious explaining to do.
The Mayor’s office as already mentioned has done its level best to make sure all of this never reached the public domain, was telling journalists who’d found out about the trip, as recently as last week, that Miss Emodi had not been on it.
“This story is totally inaccurate, false and invented,” said a City Hall spokesman. “Rosemary Emodi has never visited Kamp Afrika in Nigeria. She was in London during the dates concerned.”
A statement from the GLA last night said: “It has now become clear that the formal statement made by Rosemary Emodi was untrue. She has resigned with immediate effect. “The statement blamed Ms Emodi for not “honestly answering questions put to [her]“. Oh really?
If that was the case, then as Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, and one of the very few honest MP’s said: “Even if the Mayor’s office was lied to by Rosemary Emodi, why did they say in their statement last week that she was in London on the dates of the trip, when they must have been able to see that she was not at work?”
A good question, for the implication of it is that the GLA was intentionally seeking to hide the truth. Why? Could it be that they knew that this story could be the key to openiong a much bigger can of worms?
Which brings us back to Lee Jasper. How much did Lee Jasper knew about this trip by his deputy. Was he told about it in advance? If so, did he approve it? Was Miss Emodi given time off work to attend? Who paid for the flights to Nigeria(the hotel bill was covered by the resort management)?
Which brings us to Ken Livingstone. As the man in charge he must answer an awful lot of questions about the probity of the department run by his ‘Equality Adviser’.
