Revealed: Boris Johnson under fire over ‘personal’ meeting with Russian oligarch during COVID-19 pandemic
Prime minister met Evgeny Lebedev’s company days after telling the British public to avoid ‘non-essential contact’. Johnson later nominated Lebedev for the House of Lords
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Published in:Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Tory-linked PR firm given £3m COVID-19 contract without tenderTopham Guerin was behind controversial Conservative stunts in the 2019 general election. Now the firm is negotiating...
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Published in:Dark Money Investigations‘A corruption of Conservatism’: how a cartel of Tory MPs broke British politicsIn an extract from his new book, Peter Geoghegan shows how the European Research Group became a tightly organised...
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Published in:openDemocracyUK: InvestigationRevealed: Trump backer’s spy firm used by Met Police and Cabinet OfficePalantir's software was trialled by the Met Police and the Cabinet Office. The CIA-backed tech firm lobbied Gove,...
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Published in:Home: InvestigationExclusive: Police Chief urged Priti Patel to use Extinction Rebellion ‘opportunity’ to curb protest rightsBoris Johnson says protest ‘a key part of democracy’. But new documents show Met Police boss urging government to...
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Published in:Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: 'Sloppy' Whitehall departments spent £56m on COVID-19 consultantsBritish government departments have spent over £56m on consultancy firms during the pandemic, with most contracts...
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Published in:Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationConservative donor given government export deal met senior Tories privatelyA billionaire whose firm was given a £1.5 million loan by UK Export Finance earlier this year admits attending...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: ‘Failing’ Serco won another £57m COVID contract without competitionAs Serco's share price soars, government accused of "shovelling huge sums of public money to a handful of...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationGovernment accused of ‘cronyism’ after Tory councillor wins £156m COVID contractStroud councillor Steve Dechan ran a small, loss-making firm distributing medical devices. Documents show it signed...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: OpinionCynical British public bodies are denying our FOI rightsFreedom of Information is a powerful tool for citizens - but the UK's legislation needs to be amended to prevent...
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Published in: Dark Money InvestigationsGovernment outsourcing of COVID-19 response is “national scandal” says select committee memberLabour’s Dawn Butler says pandemic being used as a “cover” to avoid accountability, comments come in wake of latest...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationCummings and Gove allies won fresh COVID contract for A-level crisis workExclusive: Government accused of wasting taxpayer money after Public First landed contract without competition to...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Electoral Commission’s private concerns about Russian Tory donorsUK elections watchdog alerted staff to 'interesting donations' from Lubov Chernukhin – and queried other Tory...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Travel agent lands fresh Serco Test and Trace work – despite staff training concernsHays Travel has banned staff from speaking to the media about Serco’s heavily-criticised COVID-19 operations – but...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: ‘Alternative Irish border’ Brexit lobbyist in fresh conflict of interest rowShanker Singham, reappointed to key government trade role, paid to lobby influential Biden allies on post-Brexit...
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Published in: Home: InvestigationDeloitte gets another huge COVID contract – for ‘crazy’ plan to test millions each dayOperation Moonshot could be the biggest NHS privatisation in history, and civil servants are shaking their heads in...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Travel agent staff running COVID-19 track and traceCustomer service centre staff at Hays Travel have been working on Serco's heavily criticised track and trace...
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Published in: Home: OpinionVast sums spent, no one knows why: COVID reveals why UK transparency law must changeBritish governments love to outsource. But Freedom of Information doesn’t apply to private companies, so the rest of...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Key Cummings and Gove ally given COVID-19 contract without open tenderCabinet Office accused of breaching rules after handing £840,000 contract to PR firm run by co-author of the 2019...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations‘Magnitsky Act’ will fail while Britain remains money laundering hub, experts warnSanctions announced by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Monday will ‘achieve little’ if current loopholes are not closed.
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationWill the e-money boom make the UK a hub of money laundering?openDemocracy investigation finds that international money launderers are moving into Britain’s e-money business –...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationExclusive: Robert Jenrick in new UK 'cash for favours' rowBoris Johnson’s embattled housing minister took charge of another controversial planning decision – days after the...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationExclusive: Egyptian billionaire’s firm’s £1.5m export deal unveiled days after Tory donationUnatrac gave the Conservatives £125,000 in January. Six days later the firm's taxpayer-backed deal was announced....
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Nearly 400,000 British companies evade anti-money laundering checksDavid Cameron promised to stop scammers and kleptocrats hiding behind British shell companies. But almost one in ten...
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: InvestigationRevealed: Serco under fire over fresh £90m COVID-19 contractFirm in charge of England’s ‘track and trace’ now responsible for supporting vulnerable people during the pandemic....
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Published in: Dark Money Investigations: OpinionWhy are British politicians so scared of transparency?From scientific advice and procurement contracts to Freedom of Information requests, our government has drastically...