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David Leask
@LeaskyHT
, 12 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Sometimes, when you are flicking through the papers or scrolling down your favourite social media account, there is a wee story you should stop and read. I think this is one of those times. heraldscotland.com/news/17374527.…
1. This story comes from @Angelo_Mincuzzi has his colleagues at @sole24ore and @irpinvestigates. The original and longer Italian version is here. ilsole24ore.com/art/finanza-e-…
2. This story is essentially making the first link between the massive machine laundering dirty money out of Azerbaijan to a scandal involving Azerbaijani elites spending money in Malta.

And the link is in Glasgow.
3. You can read more about the so-called Azerbaijan Laundromat here, from the journalists at @OCCRP who helped uncover the scheme: occrp.org/en/azerbaijani…
4. The Scottish angles on this story can be found here: heraldscotland.com/news/15514317.… and then, in more detail, here: heraldscotland.com/news/15522565.…
5. Basically the latest news from Italy is that one of the Scottish shell firms at the heart of the Azerbaijani Laundromat also had accounts at a bank called Pilatus in Malta. heraldscotland.com/news/17374527.…
6. Now that may well turn out to be significant because Pilatus was the bank - now closed - under investigation for its links to the Azerbaijani elite by Daphne Caruana Galizia when she was murdered. heraldscotland.com/news/15612120.…
7. So many laundering scandals used the same machinery, including Scottish limited partnerships, or banks in the Baltic states, Cyprus, Malta or the Caribbean. So they can become intertwined.
8. The Azerbaijani Laundromat falls in to that category. It folds in to the wider Danske Bank scandal, the use of the Estonian branch of a Danish bank to clean something like £200 billion. Yes, billion. ft.com/content/519ad6…
9. Danske Bank is under investigation in Italy. And the Azerbaijan Laundromat and its Scottish connections is part of that investigation. See here from @sole24ore ilsole24ore.com/art/finanza-e-…
10. Tories, when they proposed reforms of Scottish limited partnerships, falsely said there was little evidence of the criminal abuse of such entities. There is voluminous evidence of this, as detailed in @heraldscotland. But the Italian probe underlines how wrong they are.
11. Lastly, if this thread is baffling (sorry about that), smarter people than me have made a podcast explaining the Danske Bank scandal and why it really, really matters. Listen here: buzzsprout.com/242645/918144-…
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David Leask
@LeaskyHT
A Scottish newspaper has channeled direct Kremlin messaging right on to its front, page, including key buzzwords. This is an absolutely fascinating case study in how - every now and again - propaganda talking points from authoritarian regimes break in to the mainstream. Thread.
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David Leask
@LeaskyHT
One of the many disheartening things about the media/social media/real life response to recent #metoo stuff is quite how many people think that anything short of conviction of an alleged sex offender means alleged victims lied. Wee crime corr thread. 1/
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David Leask
@LeaskyHT
Wings Over Scotland has once again misrepresented me knowing full well that such blogs can result in, at the very least, social media dogpiling. His blog is full or errors. We need to address these. Thread. wingsoverscotland.com/the-new-world-…
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2. Wings cites people who are angry because I have blocked them. I do block those who make false claims of misconduct, are abusive or spread Putin disinformation. I don't keep most of these people blocked for long but this is a work space and we journalists often need respite.
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