Keep On Troughing!

By Paul Homewood 

 

http://order-order.com/2015/10/13/unfortunate-victim-tim-yeo-suing-sunday-times/

 

You’ve probably already read that Tim Yeo is suing the Sunday Times for libel.

 

Guido has more detail:

 

 

Disgraced former Tory MP Tim Yeo is suing the Sunday Times for libel over three articles from 2013. Readers will remember the paper alleged that when Yeo was chairman of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee, he offered two undercover journalists to act as an advocate on behalf of their fictitious solar energy company. For a £7,000 daily fee.

Mr Yeo’s counsel Desmond Browne QC says the Sunday Times acted “with a singular lack of responsibility both at the journalistic and the editorial level“:

“Mr Yeo was the unfortunate victim of that irresponsibility. He says that in his last years of service as an MP, his reputation was trashed. At no stage during the lunch when he spoke about ways in which he might be able to assist the journalists, did Tim Yeo understand that what he was being asked to do was act as a paid advocate in breach of the rules.”

During his time as a member of parliament Yeo lobbied for an end to unnecessary air travel as he flew around the world on golfing jollies, used House of Commons banqueting facilities to wine and dine a group of environmental investors, while at the same time raising money for AFC Energy, a company of which he was chairman, and at one point was earning over £100,000-a-year from his green investments as he lobbied the government to stop green cuts. Nuff said m’lud…

 

Guido originally reported on the wine & dine story back in 2010:

 

A whole new can of worms has been opened by the publication of the banqueting and room hirings sponsored by parliamentarians.  For example  Tim Yeo MP is the current Chairman of the Environmental Audit Select Committee, not a surprising position for a former Environment Minister.  In July last year he sponsored an evening event for 150 members of the Environmental Investment Network.  Held in the impressively plush Members’ Dining Room overlooking the Thames, it certainly is a pleasant environment in which to woo and lubricate potential green investors.  Coincidentally Tim is also chairman of a small investment-hungry AIM listed company called AFC Energy plc, who are developing “environmentally friendly fuel cells”.

 

 

At the time AFC Energy plc were raising £2 million from  environmental investors, and for each of the following five months AFC Energy paid Tim Yeo £3,750 a month (up to a total of £18,750) until in December when they succeeded in raising the £2m they were seeking from environmental investors in a share placing.  Tim also got a bonus when the shares were placed with investors of 150,000 shares for his work.  All in all he made a total of some £80,000 out of the AFC deal from July when he hosted the Environmental Investment Network event until December when they sold the shares to investors.

Guido is on Newsnight tonight with Tim Yeo and hopefully we’ll get a chance to discuss the propriety of using Parliament’s heavily subsidised public banqueting facilities to entertain people you might in the future have business dealings with.  Private business and public service should not mix easily…

http://order-order.com/2010/02/04/tim-yeos-green-networking-in-parliament-pays-off/#:FvSSH-VUuHrb4A

 

The trougher was still hard at it in his last year in Parliament, before being deselected by his eminently sensible local party for the May election.

 

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmregmem/150330/yeo_tim.htm

 

Still at AFC Energy, he was paid 45K for services rendered. And with a current share price of 37p, his share options are worth another £900K.

 

 

According to AFC’s latest accounts, “additional consultancy services are provided by Locana Corporation (London) Ltd.

 

 

Surely this could not be the same Locana Corporation (London) Ltd, whose sole directors are a certain Tim Yeo and his wife Helen?

 

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/00540037/LOCANA-CORPORATION-LONDON-LIMITED/directors-secretaries

 

And surely the Trougher would not be using this as a way to avoid paying tax?

Even more puzzling is the fact that most of Locana’s shares are held by a company called Anacol Holdings.

 

 

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/00540037/LOCANA-CORPORATION-LONDON-LIMITED/group-structure

 

 

And guess who owns Anacol?

 

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/01408288/ANACOL-HOLDINGS-LIMITED/group-structure

     

 

Keep on troughing!