Gabriel Pogrund Profile picture
Jul 16, 2020 4 tweets 1 min read Read on X
Exc: GMB has launched an investigation into its own finances months after its general secretary, Tim Roache, resigned amid sexual misconduct claims

Scandal-hit union is separately alleged to have paid for lie detector test to help Roache when claims first emerged

1/4
Paul McCarthy, regional secretary, and Gary Smith, secretary of GMB Scotland, said to have demanded action

They're pointing the finger at officials including Lisa Johnson, whose friends say probe is vexatious, part of wider power struggle

One said it's "trial by rumour mill"2/4
Those behind the probe say it's vital to lift the lid on the Roache era

Critics say Johnson is being unfairly targeted because of suspicion she'll run for gen sec and that real issue is misogynistic culture

Understood senior women have grievances against men at GMB 3/4
GMB say there is no investigation into the lie detector issue. One source insists that has been resolved and it's not true

Senior sources not denying wider probe

4/4

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More from @Gabriel_Pogrund

Apr 6
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 The Sunday Times has obtained "black box" data from a tracking device inside the Mercedes rental car used by Akbar Shamji — a suspect in the case of teenager Zac Brettler's death.

We have used its GPS data to create minute-by-minute reconstruction of his movements on the night.

It shatters his story and shows he lied to police repeatedly during their investigation.

Met had the data, but failed to analyse it in depth, so never confronted him about inconsistencies, such as his claim he was at home during fatal fall:



🧵thetimes.co.uk/article/the-de…
Former bankrupt crypto investor Shamji and gangster Dave Sharma were the last people to see Brettler alive.

They confronted him about money they felt he owed them before he jumped off a 5th floor flat opposite MI6 headquarters.

A coroner delivered an "open verdict" meaning his death was suspicious but its cause unknown.
Before and after his death, Shamji was driving a rental vehicle fitted with a state-of-the-art tracking device, whose data we have analysed over several months.

He told police he went home hours before Brettler's fatal jump at 2.24am. In fact, he was in the same building. He had returned after taking call from Sharma and suddenly speeding back at 80 km/h. He went upstairs and remained alone with Sharma for 11 minutes.

Data shows other striking details such as detour over Vauxhall Bridge just after he had gone down to the river by foot and "looked for Zac" in the water.
Read 5 tweets
Mar 21
Here's a vintage example of FOI vandalism I've been dealing with.

The department: David Cameron’s Foreign Office.
The subject: David Cameron’s lobbying career.

🧵 Image
In January 2023, Cameron visited Sri Lanka.

While there, he met the president twice. Once at his residence. Another time at lunch with the British ambassador.

Within months, he was being paid to drum up investment for Port City Colombo, a highly controversial Chinese infrastructure project.

It is part of President Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative. Critics believe it could become a military base.Image
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In November 2023, shortly after Cameron’s appointment as foreign secretary, I asked the Foreign Office for copies of:

1) any notes or memos about the former PM’s trip to Sri Lanka
2) any correspondence with his team beforehand

I specifically asked for any emails from/to Laurence Mann, Cameron’s long-term adviser who was involved in the Greensill scandal and who now works for the Foreign Office.

Under law, I was supposed to get a response within 20 working days. In other words, by 21 December.
Read 10 tweets
Feb 11
I was privileged to know Zac Brettler when he was a little boy.

Following @praddenkeefe's investigation into his death, I spoke to his extraordinary parents.

Today, they give The Sunday Times previously unpublished evidence about the night their 19-year-old jumped from a balcony after a confrontation with a gangster.

It poses huge questions of the Metropolitan Police. Like crime-scene photos of the blood-like smears detectives somehow did not swab or test... (1/6)

thetimes.co.uk/article/the-me…
And a photo of the glass balcony from which Zac jumped to his death. Even police believed it had been "wiped" before they arrive at the scene.

Again, it does not appear to have been tested... (2/6)

Image
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Texts on the day of Zac's death in which the gangster Dave Sharma told his associate Akbar Shamji: “He’s not allowed to run away now.”

And a message from Shamji, who said: "It’s going to be resolved, like one way or the other.” (3/6)
Image
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Read 6 tweets
Jan 6
EXCL w/@domhauschild

Rishi Sunak's pensions minister is under investigation for spending taxpayers cash on Tory Party in his marginal seat

Paul Maynard broke expenses rules, lashed out at whistleblower

He spent £160k on printing-more than any Tory MP 🧵thetimes.co.uk/article/minist…
Maynard has for years used publicly-funded constituency office as Tory campaign HQ and used taxpayer funded printing kit to produce political leaflets

Both are banned by expenses watchdog IPSA, which last night said:  “In light of the additional information provided by ..." 2/9
The Sunday Times, we will be referring this to the compliance officer."

3/9
Read 9 tweets
Aug 19, 2023
EXCLUSIVE 🚨 w/@HarryYorke1

The king's cousin fixed a private jet and luxury safari holiday for Oleg Deripaska while he was sanctioned by the US

Lexi Bowes-Lyon - NY-based Brit at US charity - did so in 2021, years after Putin ally sanctioned by America thetimes.co.uk/article/royal-…
Her employer, UK and US registered charity Space for Giants, says: “We are not in a position to confirm or deny that Space for Giants has or has not breached US sanctions in relation to the 2021 safari given that no competent authority has ever ruled on this."
The charity was questioned as part of a DOJ/FBI investigation into Deripaska sanctions violations

It says it cooperated as “witness"

It will not say if it disclosed involvement of US team in Deripaska holiday

US persons face 30 years in prison for dealing with sanction people.
Read 9 tweets
Jun 20, 2023
A post-script on David Warburton, the disgraced Tory MP who has quit after being accused of sexual assault or harassment by three women

(He also took cocaine and a secret £100k loan from a Russian he lobbied for)

On Sunday, he did a sit down interview in the Mail on Sunday. 1/ Image
In it, he presented himself as a victim - and lashed out at the woman who accused him of assault. He was, he said, the victim of a set up. A sinister plot.

The outgoing MP said his accuser spoke fluent Russian - inflaming his fears of "Russian infiltration".
2/
The suggestion of Russian influence is not new.

Last year, in fact, hours after we published the story, the MoS splashed its own extraordinary "exclusive".

Namely, our story with the added claim that a "Foreign Communist Party" (!!??) may have released the material.
3/ ImageImage
Read 10 tweets

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