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Police investigate claims Tottenham used surveillance on Olympic board

tommyt

SC Supporter
Jul 22, 2005
6,166
10,978
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov/08/police-investigate-tottenham-olympic-board

The Metropolitan police is looking into allegations that Tottenham Hotspur put the board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) under surveillance.


Baroness Ford, chairman of the OPLC, which is in charge of securing a viable economic future for the home of the London 2012 Games, told the London Assembly: "The thing that I have learned in the last 12 months is that there has been all kinds of behaviour. There has been legal challenges and people have stood behind it anonymously – all kinds of things have happened.


"My board were put under surveillance by Tottenham Hotspur and the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur felt confident enough to say that in the Sunday Times several months ago that all 14 members of my board were put under surveillance. The Metropolitan police are now conducting an investigation into that surveillance.


"There has been all kinds of behaviour here that I could not have anticipated which, believe me, has not been pleasant in the last 12 months."


Scotland Yard confirmed on Tuesday that the investigation into the surveillance claims are "very much active". A spokesman said: "We can confirm that West Ham Football Club and the Olympic Park Legacy Company have made allegations to the Metropolitan police service in respect of the unlawful obtaining of personal information.
"These allegations have been assessed and an investigation has now commenced by officers from the economic and specialist crime command."
A deal with West Ham and Newham council to use the stadium in Stratford, east London after the 2012 Games, collapsed last month amid legal challenges, with the Government announcing that the stadium would remain in public ownership. Tottenham had already lost out to West Ham in the race to become the OPLC's first choice to move into the stadium after the Games.


Legal challenges by Tottenham and Leyton Orient, plus an anonymous complaint to the European Commission, had led to fears that court action could drag on for years while the stadium remained empty.
A new tender process is being launched by the OPLC and the showpiece venue, complete with an athletics track, will now remain in public ownership and be rented out to an anchor tenant.
Spurs rejected Ford's accusations, saying: "The club did not undertake, instruct or engage any party to conduct surveillance on any member of the OPLC committee and we consider the making of this baseless accusation to be wholly inappropriate and irresponsible. We totally reject the accusation in the strongest possible terms."


Baroness Ford told the London Assembly's economy, culture and sport committee: "I am expecting the unexpected because that is what the last 12 months has taught me. Our job now is to narrow as far as we possibly can the scope now for legitimate legal challenge in this next process – that is all that we can do.
"If people want then to be vexatious, frivolous and vindictive or whatever they want – they will do that."


The ECS committee chairman Dee Doocey said: "I personally find it appalling, and I am sure I speak for the rest of the committee, at the very idea of your board being put under surveillance is reprehensible.
"It almost beggars belief that this thing can happen. The idea that any board can be put under surveillance is absolutely disgraceful."
 

michaelden

Knight of the Fat Fanny
Aug 13, 2004
26,386
21,685
:lol: - DL actualy said aloud, "yes you are under my watchful eye of sauron". Please, he's not that stupid. It was a claim made by the WHU porn kings and has been attributed to DL by Baronmess Ford
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
It was a claim made by the WHU porn kings and has been attributed to DL by Baronmess Ford
Which is an excellent example of the stupidity and/or lack of foresight of the people charged to bring this project to fruition on behalf of the taxpayer. No wonder it's been a gong show.

I wonder if the club could sue for defamation.

ps: I like 'baronmess'. Did you mean to do it or was it a typo?
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
As I said on the front page, can't we just say Pav paid the bloke? Pav's a Russian MP so will have diplomatic immunity, problem solved.
 

worcestersauce

"I'm no optimist I'm just a prisoner of hope
Jan 23, 2006
26,891
45,041
:lol: - DL actualy said aloud, "yes you are under my watchful eye of sauron". Please, he's not that stupid. It was a claim made by the WHU porn kings and has been attributed to DL by Baronmess Ford

As spud says how on earth can someone stupid enough to make a statement like that be capable of chairing the OPLC through the most important decisions it has to make. Who does she think she is dealing with in Daniel Levy just some soccer person so clearly he must be a dumbarse? How do these people get these jobs?:duh:
 

Wellspurs

Well-Known Member
Mar 9, 2006
6,379
7,734
As I said on the front page, can't we just say Pav paid the bloke? Pav's a Russian MP so will have diplomatic immunity, problem solved.

Lets hope it forces a Russian club to take him to safety... Lugovoi style.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
http://www.mcmillan-williams.co.uk/Articles/Olympics boss paid secret cash The Sunday Times.htm

A shadow was cast over the Olympic Games last night after it emerged that the £500m stadium is at the centre of a corruption scandal.

One of London’s biggest football clubs has been exposed for making secret payments to an executive on the body that awarded the stadium to the club after the Games are completed.

West Ham United made payments totalling £20,000 into the executive’s bank account before and after it was selected as the owner of the stadium in east London.

The money was paid to Dionne Knight, the Porsche-driving director of corporate services at the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC), the quango that awarded the stadium to West Ham.

The arrangement was put in place by Ian Tompkins, a director of West Ham who masterminded its Olympic stadium bid. Knight and Tompkins are in a relationship together.

Both executives were suspended on Friday after The Sunday Times confronted them with evidence of the payments.

They told reporters that Karren Brady, West Ham’s vice-chairwoman and a judge on BBC television’s The Apprentice, had known about the payments. They said it was for “consultancy work”.

However, Knight also admitted that she had not told her employers about the payments. The disclosures could force the government to reopen the bid for the Olympic stadium if West Ham is found to have acted improperly.

The information — detailed in bank and telephone records — was obtained by corporate investigators hired by Tottenham Hotspur, the Premier League club that was the loser in the contest for the stadium.

Tottenham is seeking a judicial review of the decision. The club refused to comment officially but a senior source said: “Clearly if West Ham had someone on the payroll from the OPLC and it can be proved that she had access to confidential information relating to the bids, there is no way it can’t go back and be reopened.”

Knight, 34, who earns £84,000 a year, is one of a small number of directors on the OPLC, a government body set up to manage the handover of the stadium and the surrounding Olympic park.

The investigators were hired by Spurs two days before West Ham was voted the preferred bidder on February 11. Both clubs hoped to make the stadium their home ground. West Ham was the preferred bidder because it pledged to keep a running track inside the stadium.

Investigators obtained bank statements, credit reports, utility bills and telephone records for Knight and Tompkins. Knight was placed under surveillance. They established that four payments had gone into Knight’s bank account between December and April from a West Ham United account at the Bank of Scotland, for £566, £1,302, £3,400 and £4,600. They say there was a further sum of £4,800 in June.

This weekend Knight admitted receiving a total of £20,400 from West Ham and said it was for consultancy work. The arrangement was made two months before West Ham won the bid. She had initially refused to say what the work was. Yesterday her lawyer said it was “a procurement contract in relation to the stadium”.

Knight had informed the OPLC about her relationship with Tompkins but admitted she had not told it about the cash from West Ham. She accepts this was wrong but denies leaking confidential information.

West Ham faces questions about why it commissioned the work before it had even won the bid and why it sanctioned payments. The club, relegated from the Premier League last season, said Brady had been led to believe that the OPLC had approved Knight’s consultancy work. It would give only scant details of the work.

In a statement, the OPLC said Knight had told it about her relationship with West Ham’s bid director and measures were taken to ensure she had no access to sensitive information.

There's the article, only one quote from Spurs that said if it was true, then they should go back and look at the decision.
 

MattyP

Advises to have a beer & sleep with prostitutes
May 14, 2007
14,041
2,980
If the allegations are true they should throw the book at whoever is responsible, including Levy if appropriate.

If they are false, we should sue for significant reputational damage, should help fund the NDP.
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
I was searching around for what Levy is actually supposed to have said and came across this on the 'Dear Mr. Levy' blog, reproduced from KUMB. It appeared at the beginning of July, when I was having an extended fishing holiday and sabbatical from SC, so I don't know if it was posted on here or slipped under the radar. Apologies if it was the former.

Today's Sunday Times revealed how the OPLC's director of corporate services was paid circa £20,000 for 'consultancy work' by West Ham - work sanctioned by the club's Olympic Director, said to be in a relationship with the aforementioned. More details on that can be seen here.

However it also reveals the depths that Tottenham were prepared to sink to in order to derail West Ham's move into the Olympic Stadium, which was ratified by the Government earlier this year.

1. Hired 'corporate intelligence' company: The Times claimed that Spurs hired the intelligence agency two days before the OPLC declared their preferred bidder to investigate the 14 members of the adjudicating panel in order to unearth any potential conflicts of interest.

2. Hired private investigators: Having struck gold, Tottenham ordered investigators to place Dionne Knight, the OPLC director at the centre of the storm under personal surveillance. This included a 'stake-out' of the single mother's home, where she lives with her 14-year-old daughter.

3. Accessed personal information: Tottenham's investigators admitted procuring sensitive documents - including personal bank statements belonging to both Knight and the West Ham employee - along with other sensitive personal information usually protected by data protection laws.

If this is so (and whilst the Sunday Times is 'respectable' it's still part of the News International stable) it's no use saying 'Levy wouldn't be that stupid'; he may not be, but if people he's employed are and have overstepped the mark he, and Spurs, could be in trouble.
 

nightgoat

Well-Known Member
Sep 12, 2005
24,604
21,898
I reckon it was Pav, anyone with the ability to be as anonymous as him would make a great private investigator...

Otherwise blame Jenas...
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
I was searching around for what Levy is actually supposed to have said and came across this on the 'Dear Mr. Levy' blog, reproduced from KUMB.


If this is so (and whiles the Sunday Times is 'respectable' it's still part of the News International stable) it's no use saying 'Levy wouldn't be that stupid'; he may not be, but if people he's employed are and have overstepped the mark he, and Spurs, could be in trouble.
Your caveats about the Sunday Times are obviously valid, and it's also worth remarking on the fact that this appears to have been relayed through a couple of sources since its apparent publication; one of which isn't exactly sympathetic to THFC's viewpoint. Chinese whispers and all that.....

Even if it's all true, and laws have been broken, it would probably still be a hell of a stretch to implicate Levy and the club in anything illegal.
 

michaelden

Knight of the Fat Fanny
Aug 13, 2004
26,386
21,685
Which is an excellent example of the stupidity and/or lack of foresight of the people charged to bring this project to fruition on behalf of the taxpayer. No wonder it's been a gong show.

I wonder if the club could sue for defamation.

ps: I like 'baronmess'. Did you mean to do it or was it a typo?

Meant it. :up: Its been a fuck up from the get-go
 

SpurSince57

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2006
45,213
8,229
Your caveats about the Sunday Times are obviously valid, and it's also worth remarking on the fact that this appears to have been relayed through a couple of sources since its apparent publication; one of which isn't exactly sympathetic to THFC's viewpoint. Chinese whispers and all that.....

Even if it's all true, and laws have been broken, it would probably still be a hell of a stretch to implicate Levy and the club in anything illegal.

It would certainly be highly unlikely that Levy would follow Harry into the dock, and knowing Our Dan there's a fall guy lined up Comolli-style in any case. It wouldn't do our reputation much good, though.
 

tototoner

Staying Alert
Mar 21, 2004
29,387
34,059
the lovely Mrs Brady

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16030829

Tottenham and accountants "stonewalled" West Ham's vice-chairman when she tried to find out how her phone records were obtained, a High Court judge has said.


In his judgment Mr Justice Coulson said letters sent to Karren Brady were "long on words but short on information".


In November accountancy firm PKF, engaged by Tottenham, agreed to provide information about her phone records.


PKF had copies of her records while bidding for use of the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games was taking place.


Both London clubs were rival bidders for the use of the venue.


At the High Court in November, Mr Justice Coulson granted Ms Brady an information disclosure order.


The written judgment, which has now been published, gives the judge's view about the behaviour of Tottenham and PKF.


The accountancy firm was engaged by Tottenham to conduct an inquiry in connection with the Olympic Stadium, but there were "no documents" clarifying its role.


Mr Justice Coulson said: "The precise nature of the instructions given to PKF remains something of a mystery, because neither PKF nor Tottenham Hotspur have provided any detailed evidence about the precise nature of PKF's role.


"Given the issues raised in this case, I consider that this omission reflects no credit on either PKF or Tottenham Hotspur."


West Ham's lawyers began a "long chain of correspondence", first with Tottenham, then with PKF, to find out what happened.


Mr Justice Coulson said: "It appears that Ms Brady was given the traditional run-around by both principal and agents, in a series of letters that were long on words but short on information.


"Tottenham Hotspur had told [Ms Brady and West Ham] to go to PKF and PKF had said that the matters were protected by Tottenham Hotspur's right to client confidentiality."


Describing this approach as "stonewalling", the judge added: "PKF's repeated concerns about client confidentiality and the need for wholesale redactions... grew a little wearisome."


The judge said PKF's attempt for the November's hearing to be held in private was "rooted in PKF's desire to minimise the embarrassment".


West Ham began inquiries after a newspaper reported in July that the club paid a member of staff at the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) for consultancy services and mentioned "bank and telephone records... obtained by corporate investigators hired by Tottenham Hotspur".


Mr Justice Coulson said the information disclosure order was justified as Ms Brady's telephone records had been "wrongfully obtained by subterfuge".


Both clubs wanted to move to the £486m stadium in Stratford, east London, after the Games, and Tottenham began legal proceedings after the OPLC favoured West Ham's bid.
 

Rocksuperstar

Isn't this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have?
Jun 6, 2005
53,290
66,758
So, to sum up this latest story; we've done to a transexual loud mouth what the Olympic Comittee and WHU did to us for the last six months. We want information, they refuse to give it.

I hope that this, yet another non-story being stirred for shits and giggles by the triumvirate of the porno-jester, a Matthew Kelly-a-like ventriloquist dummy and the Queen of ex-cock wearers, is left to die like it should've done months and months ago.

Gold & Sullivan alone are two of the most crooked businessmen on earth, who lie to their staff and treat them like dirt, employ bully boy managers and will circumvent any rule or regulation if they possibly can, yet they expect everyone to treat their word like that of a princess.

F*ck you both, and a reach around to your co-conspirator.
 

JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
So, to sum up this latest story; we've done to a transexual loud mouth what the Olympic Comittee and WHU did to us for the last six months. We want information, they refuse to give it.

I hope that this, yet another non-story being stirred for shits and giggles by the triumvirate of the porno-jester, a Matthew Kelly-a-like ventriloquist dummy and the Queen of ex-cock wearers, is left to die like it should've done months and months ago.

Gold & Sullivan alone are two of the most crooked businessmen on earth, who lie to their staff and treat them like dirt, employ bully boy managers and will circumvent any rule or regulation if they possibly can, yet they expect everyone to treat their word like that of a princess.

F*ck you both, and a reach around to your co-conspirator.
It's irrelevant the nature of our adversaries, we have an obligation to behave correctly, properly and within the law.
As my Mum used to say:
'Two wrongs do not make a right'
Even if they are as you describe we cannot appeal to the law if we ourselves or others acting on our behalf,have behaved illegally.
Your foulmouthing of Karen Brady is disgusting.
 

Rocksuperstar

Isn't this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have?
Jun 6, 2005
53,290
66,758
Karen Brady has a foul mouth, it goes well with her foul attitude and her vaguely masculine appearance.

But, you're right, i shouldn't say such mean things. She's come a long way since she quit her job at the shipyards and gave up smoking a pipe.
 

L.A. Yiddo

Not in L.A.
Apr 12, 2007
5,639
8,051
Karen Brady has a foul mouth, it goes well with her foul attitude and her vaguely masculine appearance.

But, you're right, i shouldn't say such mean things. She's come a long way since she quit her job at the shipyards and gave up smoking a pipe.

:grin: :clap:
 

cusop

Well-Known Member
Oct 25, 2010
1,092
188
Karen Brady would not think twice of running yu over multiple times if she could get away with it!!

You are warned
 
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