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SFO’s friendly fire

Thu, 21 Oct 2010

The Serious Fraud Office’s demand that NBR hand over notes and tapes from an interview with a central figure in the Hyatt Regency/South Canterbury Finance affair is a departure from the agency’s MO.

Until now, the SFO and the media have been on friendly terms – some might say too friendly – as their intentions are the same: bring white collar criminals to account.

But the SFO’s draconian powers of search should not apply to the media and before now most journalists wouldn’t have thought about them (though I understand we are not the first: the other case is affected by court suppression orders and cannot be made public).

I recall Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who set up the SFO, has since changed his mind on the search rules and this was the reason he supported the now-abandoned merger with the police into a new organised crime unit.

Sir Geoffrey was worried that the SFO’s powers were not subject to judicial review or the Bill of Rights, as is the case with police investigations. The changes to the Evidence Act in 2006 do give some protection to journalists’ sources and the need for confidentiality, if a judge decides this is in the public interest.

But the fact that anyone obstructing SFO investigations can face a jail sentence is in another league. Changing the SFO Act is a matter of urgency, if only to protect the agency’s good relations with the media built up over a couple of decades.

Going cold on Gaza
Sir Geoffrey is leaving the Law Commission and is now concentrating on his work leading the UN panel into the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara, leader of a Turkish flotilla against the Gaza blockade.

The UN reports the panel’s works is being “conducted in a positive and collegial manner” after meeting twice on largely procedural issues.

Sir Geoffrey tells me the panel won’t be conferring again until late November, when it has the results of an official Israeli commission of inquiry. A similar one has been held in Turkey.

Meanwhile, an Israeli website on intelligence and terrorism reports on an interview by Israel’s Channel 1 with Turkish journalist Azefik Dinc, who was on the Mavi Marmara and wrote a book about it.

He says no shots were fired from the Israeli helicopters and that IDF soldiers did not open fire until their lives were in danger.

According to Dinc, it wasn't until the soldiers realised that some of their friends' lives were in danger that they began using live ammunition.

Dinc's descriptions contradict the testimonies of [Turkish Islamic] IHH activists that were the basis for a report compiled by the UN Human Rights Council.

Sir Geoffrey’s panel has agreed it will receive and review reports of the national investigations before seeking further information, clarifications or meetings with Israel or Turkey.

The findings are unlikely to surprise. In August, a BBC Panorama programme (shown here on TV One’s Sunday) found no shortage of medicine or food in Gaza, and that some on board the Turkish ship were ready to fight and die for their cause.

The latest from the Kiwi Kia Ora convoy is that it will end up in Egypt, after leaving Syria by ship, and will avoid any Israeli blockade.You are unlikely to read this in the paper.

The Hobbit and the Kelly gang
A couple of weeks ago I warned of dire consequences from union involvement in the movie industry. I predicted the efforts to derail The Hobbit would

effectively put the government in the position of having to underwrite Sir Peter [Jackson]’s project if there is any hope of salvaging an industry into which taxpayers have put so much already in the hope of longer term benefits.

Thus it has come to pass with the Warner Bros studio threatening to pull the production out of New Zealand soon aftet it got the green light last weekend.

While all has not yet been lost, I am told, the situation is extremely serious – no thanks to the involvement of the Council of Trade Unions, actors’ organisations and others who think they know what’s best for the industry.

Latest reports say Prime Minister John Key may try to talk Warner Bros out of their decision. While I have no doubt of the actors’ good motives, business does not thrive where unions start acting as though they should be pulling the strings.

At the least, Mr Key may have to make an expensive offer of taxpayers’ largesse, like doubling the 15% tax writeoff – if Hollywood understands one thing it’s a substantial financial bribe. That bill should then be passed on to Helen Kelly and the CTU.

Militants meet their match
The Hobbit affair coincides with a campaign by the unions to show their new-found militancy. They are also claiming success in the local government election.

But they should beware what they ask for. The Hobbit case shows even the best intentions can backfire, with ordinary workers in the industry now judging unions as only good for their wrecking abilities.

The desultory protests during the week are likely to be similarly counter-productive. While Ms Kelly and her gang may think they are up with the riotous French pension protesters in revolutionary zealt, they should look instead across the Channel,

There, the greatest slashing of UK government since World War II has stripped more than £80 billion from the budget. Most of it will come from welfare cuts and the big reductions for departments and ministries.

The spending review has also imposed higher taxes on the better paid while also putting a cap on families’ access to government services.

Schools and science spending have largely escaped, while private sector employers say they are ready to offer jobs to those who will have to leave the public service.

Surprisingly, in its list of winners and losers, the Daily Telegraph also cites soldiers, foreign aid recipients, TV viewers and companies prepared to hire ex-offenders as those who benefit.

So far, public reaction has been muted, as the Coalition has already well prepared voters for an austerity measures that chancellor George Osborne says are

necessary to ensure that the government did not “saddle our children with the interest on the interest on the interest of the debts we were not ourselves prepared to pay.

“Today’s the day when Britain steps back from the brink. When we confront the bills from a decade of debt.”

Any investment bet on the future of the UK economy would be a wise move.

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SFO’s friendly fire
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