Despite persistently pleading poverty, and at one time claiming to have
assets of just 300,000 GBP, Porter has somehow managed to scrape together 12m
GBP which has now been paid into Westminster Council's bank account.
She has however managed to avoid paying the entire 42m GBP outstanding
following an initial order to pay 27m GBP plus interests and costs arising from
the gerrymandering which Porter presided over.
The Council may say that 12 million is better than nothing, but it seems that in
Porter's case crime does pay, or at least that she has got off extremely
lightly. Avoiding having to pay out 33 million GBP is no mean feat.
The Porter scandal goes back to the late 1980's when she presided over a Council
initiative to sell Council properties to those in marginal wards who were
potentially inclined to vote for the Conservative Party of which she was a
member.
The initiative, selling some 500 Council homes a year, under the grand title of
"building stable communities" was nothing but a despicable scheme to buy votes,
and she was well and truly nailed by later investigations into the affair.
The District Auditor accused Porter of, "wilful misconduct" and "disgraceful
and improper gerrymandering", and the case for recompense crawled through the
courts with Porter denying any wrongdoing and proclaiming that she would fight
the case all the way. Following a House of Lord's ruling, Porter was eventually
ordered to repay the losses demanded by the Council.
Porter, heiress to the Tesco empire, as archetypal Tesco Bag, has been reluctant
to do so and has continued to avoid paying her dues, fleeing abroad in the
aftermath of the Lords' unanimous and damning ruling and a failed attempt in the
European Court of Human Rights to have it overturned.
While Westminster Council say the deal struck is in the best interests of local
people, particularly as it will avoid further, potentially costly, legal
action, Peter Bradley MP, a former councillor of Westminster, has complained
that it is unfair on the victims of her actions.
He is quite right when he says that,"Shirley Porter was responsible for the
worst, the most cynical and callous and indeed the most costly conspiracy of
political corruption in this country in the modern age".
It also appears that she has now avoided paying fully for her crime. The 12m GBP
recouped is less than half the amount of that due many years ago, and massively
below the amount due now with interest added on.
That Westminster City Council remains, after many years of legal battling,
out of pocket by some 33m GBP is hardly a satisfactory result for many people,
who are inclined to point out that the Council remains under Conservative
control, and those in power at the time Porter was pursuing her corrupt goals
have never offered any apology for her serious wrongdoing, not even the Leader
of the Conservative Party at the time, Margaret Thatcher.
That the deal was struck under Simon Milton, current leader of the Council,
who was a former Porter protege has not gone unnoticed. What he refers to as
a pragmatic solution to a problem which is dragging on and on, and is costing
the Council huge legal fees, many see as continued evidence of corruption
within the former 'flagship' Conservative dominated Council; the remnants of
a discredited regime forgiving itself its crimes. Many people will perceive
Westminster to be as much a 'Rotten Borough' as it ever was.
The Council's solicitors, say that it had been a long, difficult and complex
case, and despite having a very strong case against Porter for full payment,
that they have, "no hesitation in recommending this settlement". In
their judgement, "it is an excellent result". I hardly think they would be
saying the same to clients who agreed to pay just 30% of their outstanding legal
fees, and nor would a client they were acting on behalf of be happy were they
to announce that they were unable to recover an entire missing vehicle, but had
managed to get the wheels back; that's the best we can do. One does have to
wonder what these people are being paid for, and legal fees have run into
millions of pounds themselves.
It has also not gone without much comment that while Westminster Council
aggressively pursues small debts from those at the poor end of the spectrum
they appear happy to waive far greater sums from their own, proven criminal,
former dignitary. Few can see how the deal is ultimately the best that the
Council could have achieved. And why it was a settlement to be confirmed by
the British Virgin Island's Courts will be a mystery to many.
Despite the deal between Westminster Council and Porter being in 'full and
final settlement', contradicting earlier promises from the Council to obtain
full repayment, the case does not appear to have been put to rest. As
Peter Bradley has noted along with many other public observers, Porter
presented sworn affidavits in court claiming that her assets amounted to far
less than 1m GBP, despite having been named by Vogue as the 20th richest
woman in Europe and subsequent legal action freezing over 35m GBP in
offshore funds and family trusts. That she has reluctantly 'found' 12m GBP and
continues to throw her money around in Israel, getting her name on a number of
educational establisments there,
presents a prima facie case of earlier perjury, and Bradley has asked the Chief
Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to investigate such a charge.
Porter has been hiding out abroad, mainly in the US and Israel, since she was
found guilty of corruption in 1996. Branded a "Liar" by the High Court
Judges sitting in her case, she stands as yet another disgraced, titled
Conservative, shoulder-to-shoulder alongside Lord Archer.
Both are what many people call, "Scum".
