Tag: scandal

  • Gove compares election betting scandal to Partygate

    Gove compares election betting scandal to Partygate

    Mason is being investigated by betting regulators, accused of placing dozens of bets on the election date according to the Times. He is the fourth Tory figure to be implicated in the affair…reports Asian Lite News

    A senior British minister compared the latest scandal involving Tory candidates accused of betting on the election date to Partygate, a series of Covid-era parties that brought down Boris Johnson.

    Housing minister Michael Gove compared the betting allegations to the Partygate scandal in an interview with the Times newspaper on Saturday.

    “It looks like one rule for them and one rule for us… That’s the most potentially damaging thing,” said Gove, who is standing down this election after 14 years as an MP.

    “That was damaging at the time of Partygate and is damaging here,” he added.

    Prime minister Johnson was forced from office in 2022 following public anger at the revelations of parties held in Downing Street when the rest of the country was under lockdown during the pandemic.

    Now another senior Conservative Party figure has been caught up in the latest scandal. The party’s chief data officer, Nick Mason, has taken a leave of absence, following claims he placed bets on the timing of the election, the PA news agency reported Saturday.

    Mason is being investigated by betting regulators, accused of placing dozens of bets on the election date according to the Times. He is the fourth Tory figure to be implicated in the affair.

    The party’s campaign director stepped aside following reports on Thursday that he and his wife, a Tory candidate in the July 4 election, were under investigation by the Gambling Commission.

    The scandal broke a week earlier, when Tory candidate and Sunak’s ministerial aide Craig Williams said he was being probed for staking a bet on the snap election date before it was called. On Wednesday, London police said one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s security detail had been arrested for allegedly placing a bet on the date.

    Sunak has said he is “incredibly angry” over the revelations. “If anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party,” he said earlier this week.

    Political bets are allowed in the UK, including on the date of elections, but using insider knowledge to do so is against the law. The inquiries heap further misery on Sunak, whose party has trailed Labour by about 20 points in the polls for nearly two years, making it odds-on to be dumped out of office after 14 years.

    Gove said that those involved in the betting scandal were “sucking the oxygen out of the campaign.” Comparing it to Partygate again, he added: “A few individuals end up creating an incredibly damaging atmosphere for the party.

    “So it’s both bad in itself, but also destructive to the efforts of all of those good people who are currently fighting hard for the Conservative vote.”

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  • Portugal PM resigns over corruption scandal

    Portugal PM resigns over corruption scandal

    Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba, and the President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Nuno Lacasta, were also named as formal suspects…reports Asian Lite News

    Antonio Costa, prime minister of Portugal, resigned on Tuesday afternoon after becoming the target of an investigation into alleged government corruption.

    Costa submitted his resignation to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa earlier in the day. In a statement, Costa denied corruption accusations but said he preferred to step down to focus on his defense.

    The country’s attorney general (AG) has already announced that a criminal case will be filed against Costa. The AG was also received by the Portuguese president, who was informed about the search operations that resulted in the arrest of five people, including Vitor Escaria, Costa’s chief of staff.

    Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba, and the President of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Nuno Lacasta, were also named as formal suspects. According to the AG’s office, the inquiry focuses on the alleged crimes of prevarication, active and passive corruption, and influence peddling.

    The investigation also focuses on lithium exploration concessions in Portugal, as well as a hydrogen energy production plant project.

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  • Imran Khan, sister summoned in land corruption scandal

    Imran Khan, sister summoned in land corruption scandal

    Imran was summoned by the ACE on June 16 but he did not appear before it. The summon was affixed at Imran’s Lahore Zaman Park residence…reports Asian Lite News

    The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) of Pakistan’s Punjab has summoned the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, his sister Uzma Khan and her husband Ahad Majeed in the Layyah land corruption case, media reported.

    According to a notification issued by the spokesperson, the PTI chief has been asked to appear before the ACE headquarters on June 19 whereas Uzma and her husband have been asked to present themselves before the ACE Director General.

    Earlier, Imran was summoned by the ACE on June 16 but he did not appear before it. The summon was affixed at Imran’s Lahore Zaman Park residence.

    The spokesperson maintained that the ACE had “clear evidence” of Imran’s involvement in the Layyah corruption scandal, adding that pressure was exerted on revenue officials from Bani Gala- Imran’s residence in Islamabad — for illegal transfer of land, Express Tribune reported.

    Uzma is accused of alleged fraud in purchase of 5,261-kanal of land in Layyah district, reportedly worth billions of rupees, for a mere Rs 130 million. The ACE said that an FIR had been registered against the couple.

    According to the spokesperson, the land was bought in 2021-22 through fraud, adding that Uzma and Majeed made a fake transfer of the land on their names.

    He said the marker value of the land was about Rs six billion. The purchase, he added, was made when the ADB announced aid for the Greater Thal Canal project, which aimed at irrigating the barren lands through Thal canal.

    The spokesperson said Uzma had prior knowledge of the project, so the couple forced the landowner to sell it to them. He added that the land owners had filed complaints against Uzma and others to the police for forcibly buying the land, Express Tribune reported.

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