Dodi, Tomlinson and Prince Michael of Kent in the same news story!!
SFD
from today's page 12 in their online digest, so I had to subject it to
scanning and text recognition. Thus any misprints may well not be down
to them.
The idea that Dodi Fayed, Richard Tomlinson, and Prince Michael of Kent
(who I thought momentarily was GrandMaster of the United Grand Lodge
Freemasons, but that's the Duke of Kent, who I think is a different
person) should share a legal advisor/business partner just seems too
fantastic not to post on here.
There are scant details about the exact nature of the crime(s) to which
the defendant pleaded guilty, let alone those which seem to have been
set aside, but the juxtaposition of personae in such a context seems
remarkable.
Has anyone been following this case??
--- The Guardian Story --
Spy lawyer charges dropped to protect MI6
Richard Norton-Taylor
and William Raynor
A FORMER senior partner of a Mayfair law firm who was a key MI6 contact
and whose clients included Prince Michael of Kent and Dodi Fayed
yesterday pleaded guilty to 17 criminal offences after the prosecution
agreed to drop others that would have
severely embarrassed Britain's foreign intelligence service.
Michael Palmer, former partner of Palmer Cowen, pleaded guilty at the
Old Bailey to theft, forgery, falsifying accounts, and conspiracy to
defraud in excess of Ł250,000. Anthony Hacking QC. prosecuting,
described the offences as "a very serious breach of trust".
A number of the charges related to Mr Palmer's role as executor to the
estates of two deceased clients named Elton and Roberts. Mr Hacking said
the Serious Fraud Office would not pursue other charges.
Some of these charges - to which Mr Palmer pleaded not guilty - related
to his former client, Jamshid Hashemi, an MI6 middleman. Allegations
relating to Mr Palmer's role as a director of Dodi Fayed's film company,
Allied Stars, had been abandoned earlier.
Mr Palmer will be sentenced next month when the judge, Mr Justice
Collins QC, is expected to hear pleas in mitigation from MI6. Mr
Palmer has been on bail since 1997 with surety put up by Sir Gordon
Reece, former adviser to Lady Thatcher and Tory party publicity
director.
A quick scan of the 61-year-old's circle of friends reads like a page
from Who's Who. Mr Palmer claims to be a friend of the former foreign
secretary Lord Howe, Sir Leon Brittan vice president of the European
Commission, and - since schooldays - of Sir John Chilcot former
permanent secretary at the Northern Ireland Office.
As Mr Hashemi's lawyer and director of some of the Iranian's companies.
Mr Palmer found himself submerged in the world of spying. He liaised
with MI6 while Mr Hashemi spied for Britain under cover of arranging
weapons deals with Tehran - including the supply of Chinese-made
Silkworm missiles.
In December, Mr Hashemi pleaded guilty to three fraud charges. He was
released from jail last month after a deal preventing information on MI6
operations from being disclosed in court. Mr Palmer had offered to help
Mr Hashemi to avoid prosecution - but MI6 blocked it.
Mr Palmer had also previously been used by the secret service to help
provide cover for Richard Tomlinson, the former MI6 officer who was
later jailed under the Official Secrets Act. MI6 asked Mr Palmer to
brief Mr Tomlinson about trade with Iran under cover of a salesman for a
chemicals company. The idea was to infiltrate Iran's weapons procurement
programme.
It was Mr Palmer's extensive contacts not only in Britain but throughout
the Arab world that attracted spooks. He set up a legal office in
Bahrain with legal representatives elsewhere in the Middle East.
Mr Palmer's extraordinary network of contacts and his influence in
Whitehall first came to the notice of the police in 1990 when he was
interviewed by Detective Sergeant Michael Hill of Hertfordshire CID, who
had stumbled on one suspicious deal
involving Mr Hashemi. Though Mr Hill's initial inquiry was shelved, it
was later revived by the SFO.
Immediately after he had been interviewed by Mr Hill, and against MI6
advice, Mr Palmer contacted Sir John Chilcot, then deputy secretary at
the Home Office responsible for the police. Documents, seen by the
Guardian, including a memheaded: "Sergeant Michael Alan Hill, Issues
Which May Cause Government Embarrassment" show that Mr Hill was told to
drop the case. There is no suggestion that Sir John took a personal
interest in the case.
When Mr Hill declined to drop the case, he was disciplined, told he was
suffering from paranoia, and obliged to leave the police force.
Mr Palmer, meanwhile, is hoping that when he is sentenced next month,
his services on behalf of MI6 - if not his influential friendships -
will be taken into account.
Andrew Steven Reed
<sfd.n...@workline.com> writes
Alfayeds have been dropped because they would embarrass MI6!
--
Andrew Steven Reed