London stung by U.S. attack on bank regulation record - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Calling London a haven of regulatory loopholes that spawns financial trading disasters could make it harder to align new transatlantic rules, figures in London's financial and legal circles said on Wednesday.
Responding to attacks in Congress on London's regulatory record, European policymakers, analysts and industry officials called the American comments ill-advised and politically driven.
"As the old saying goes, it is like the pot calling the kettle black," analysts at Mediobanca said.
A hearing in Congress - on how supervisors failed to spot the buildup of $2 billion (1.27 billion pounds) in derivatives losses at a London unit of U.S. bank JPMorgan Chase & Co - heard a top regulator and MPs describe London as offering a loophole American banks eagerly exploit.
"It seems to be that every big trading disaster happens in London," Carolyn Maloney, a Democratic lawmaker told Tuesday's hearing.
Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which regulates derivatives, added that U.S. firms, such as the JPMorgan branch in London, were set up abroad to find "lower regulatory regimes".
AIG, the U.S. insurer rescued by U.S. taxpayers, and CitiGroup's special purpose investment vehicle, which kept huge holdings of debt off the bank's balance sheet, were both in London and could put American taxpayers on the hook, Gensler said.
"So often it comes right back here, crashing to our shores," Gensler said, putting London on a par with other offshore centres like the Cayman Islands, a home to some hedge funds.
Yet Britain's Financial Services Authority has repeatedly said JPMorgan operates as a branch in London that is mainly regulated by the U.S. authorities, with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency having five of its examiners based in JPMorgan's London building.
The FSA has long admitted its "light touch" pre-crisis regime failed and says it has become one of the toughest regulators in the world. Its top banking supervisor has seen no UK regulatory breaches for now at JPMorgan.
The UK watchdog declined to comment on Tuesday's remarks in Congress.
Mark Boleat, policy committee chairman at the City of London, home to a big chunk of the UK financial services sector, said the comments bring heat but no light and that each country needed to put its regulatory house in order.
"What we need to do, however, is avoid political jousting and to work together to ensure that international regulation is congruent," Boleat said.
NO TOUCH
Anthony Belchambers, chief executive of the Futures and Options Association, said the outburst was extraordinary after the financial crisis was sparked by a "no touch" U.S. regulatory regime towards derivatives and mortgage selling.
Defaults on U.S. home loans in 2007 triggered a global market meltdown, fuelled by the collapse of U.S. bank Lehman Brothers the following year.
"It is simply not helpful to wag fingers at other jurisdictions at a time when we must be thinking of how to establish a coherent framework for regulations across borders," Belchambers said.
The accusations came on the day world leaders met in neighbouring Mexico to congratulate themselves on how well their globally coordinated financial reforms were falling into place.
JPMorgan's losses not only embarrassed the bank but also regulators like the CFTC, which was already under the gun for failing to spot the financial crisis and faces a Congress-inspired budget cut.
The bank's losses coincide with a shift to implementing new rules at a time when there are already suspicions that some countries may try to row back on the detail.
"You would hope that regulators would be working in a more cooperative spirit and that is difficult where there is any lack of trust," said Richard Reid, director of research at the International Centre for Financial Regulation.
This lack of trust has already prompted the financial industry to call on the G20 to redouble efforts to mesh their national rules to avoid extra costs.
Some regulatory over-reach beyond local borders looks unavoidable, as Gensler openly linked concerns about London with his commission's push to get approval for new derivatives rules.
Leaving out the London branches of U.S. banks from the rules would be another loophole and a retreat from reform, Gensler said.
"I hope that the commission will vote ... to get public comment this Thursday so that we don't in essence create another London loophole," Gensler said.
The European Union has been slammed for doing likewise with its new markets and derivatives rules, saying that U.S. firms who want to do business in the 27-country bloc should be complying with "equivalent" rules back home.
"This is just another manifestation of the iron curtain which financial services regulators are raising across the Atlantic," said Simon Gleeson, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance.
(Editing by David Holmes)
London 2012 Olympics: Games organisers defend auction of torches to cover costs of Games - Daily Telegraph
The initiative smacks of an organisation desperate to extract as much revenue as it can by whatever means. Locog defended the move, saying it would be selling off all equipment used in the Games as well as computers from its offices.
Locog chairman Seb Coe disagreed that the auction was ‘demeaning’. “I think we’ve done the best torch relay that I have ever witnessed and the interest is extraordinary,” he said. “And yes, we’ve done some things that have upped the cost a bit in key areas, and this is not a bad way of helping us fund it.”
Coe was speaking at the Beyond Sport awards in London, where he received the ‘Leadership in Sport Award’ for Locog’s International Inspiration legacy programme.
Beckham’s manager said the player was aware of the torch being sold and he was ”happy to help off-set the costs to other relay runners”.
Locog said the torches cost £495 each to make, although some runners had theirs paid for by a sponsor.
Locog said yesterday other sporting items would follow on the auction website, including beach volleyballs from the event at Horseguard’s Parade and the relay batons from athletics.
Yesterday, Locog had two pages of framed autographed photographs of Locog chairman Lord Coe, rower Sir Steve Redgrave and athletes Daley Thompson and Dame Kelly Holmes up for auction on the site.
Locog has a tight budget of £2.2 billion raised through sponsorship and the sale of tickets, broadcast rights and merchandise.
This is separate to the £9.3 billion public sector budget.
Locog hopes to raise net merchandise revenue of £100 million, but the sale of the torches has added a new dimension to commercialising the Olympics.
Locog commercial director Chris Townsend said: ”The relay will last for 70 days and the flame will carry with it the values and spirit of the Olympic Games across the UK.”
Townsend said the “authentic London 2012 torches” would be released in special limited editions marking significant moments along the Torch Relay.
They will feature metallic shards signed by athletes and celebrities.
On the website, Locog is enthusiastic about the torch descriptions. ”This rare and historical Olympic artefact could be yours to own!” it says.
The torches will be delivered in a bespoke collector’s box.
London bombing survivor Martine Wiltshire selected for Paralympics - ITV
A survivor of the July 7 suicide bombings spoke of her joy today at being picked to compete at the London 2012 Paralympics.
Martine Wiltshire, who took up sitting volleyball after losing her legs in the 2005 terror attacks, described her ParalympicsGB selection as "amazing".
"It's a dream, and something that I never, ever thought I'd be doing, and a journey that I never thought I'd be on."
Video report by Lewis Vaughan Jones
"This has been a long journey but it does not stop here, as we now enter our final training phase.
Wiltshire was one of the last people to be pulled from the wreckage of the tube train at Aldgate. She spent 10 days in a coma, and lost both her legs.
She is among the 21 players who make up Britain's first ever men's and women's sitting volleyball teams to compete at a Paralympics.
In July 2005, Wiltshire had been celebrating London winning the right to host the 2012 Games the night before and was running late for work as a marketing manager when she got caught up in the bombings.
"The last thing I was reading on the tube that morning before the bomb went off was about the Olympics," she told ITV News reporter Lewis Vaughan Jones.
Wiltshire feels she is lucky to be alive because she was only 3ft away from one of the bombers and 52 people were killed that day.
Wiltshire tried a taster Paralympic day and fell in love with the team sport of sitting volleyball.
The sport is in its infancy in Britain, potentially putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to their rivals, but with London 2012 on the horizon the team has made a determined push to try and prove they are worth their home nation spot.
ParalympicsGB had only sent a standing volleyball team to compete at the Games before London 2012.
It has meant that an extra focus by the British Paralympic Association and Volleyball England governing bodies so the teams could meet their "credible performance" requirement before being rubber-stamped for a home nation slot.
US ambassador admits passion for Liverpool FC during Vauxhall car plant tour - Liverpool Echo
US ambassador admits passion for Liverpool FC during Vauxhall car plant tour
THE American ambassador to the UK said he is now “passionate” about football after watching Liverpool FC win the Carling Cup.
Louis Susman, who visited the Vauxhall car plant at Ellesmere Port yesterday, said he watched the match in February as a guest of his friends, John Henry and Tom Warner, the club’s US co-owners.
He said: “I have a history of being involved in baseball in the US and that was how I got to know John Henry and Tom Warner in San Diego.
“Subsequently they invited me to watch Liverpool win the Carling Cup at Wembley. I love all sports and become passionate about the Premier League.”
Asked if he would come to watch the Reds play at Anfield, he said: “Why not return here to see some more matches?”
Mr Susman was on a 24-hour visit to Merseyside to see US investment in firms such as Vauxhall, owned by General Motors, and Speke-based pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly UK.
He said: “I made it my priority to go everywhere because I am ambassador to all the UK.
“But Liverpool is a fabulous place. It is a landmark in culture and regeneration and I was very impressed by my visit to the university and meeting the business leaders.
“I am so pleased that General Motors has not only kept the Vauxhall factory open but expanded it too. This is a boon for the Ellesmere Port area.”
After meeting the US Fulbright and Marshall scholars at Liverpool university, Mr Susman also opened Tate Liverpool gallery’s new show – Turner, Monet, Twombley: The Later Paintings – last night.
He said: “My wife and I are active members of the arts community and I was delighted to accept when asked.
“On this visit there is no shortage of places to see.
“This city and the US is a particular part of the special relationship between our two countries. It was here the very first US consul James Maury was based from 1790 and where the last Confederate ship surrendered.
“There are so many cultural institutions here like the Tate, Albert Dock, St George’s Hall, the Philharmonic and the Gormley statues.
“You have got to tell people about it and make it a tourism destination port.”
Mr Susman was also one of the first to spot President Barack Obama’s potential when he was a young politician and keenly fund- raised for him.
He said: “I saw he had great talent and encouraged him to do what he’s now doing.”
As for President Obama visiting Liverpool, Mr Susman said: “We will cross that bridge after the US election.”
Vauxhall introduces new Zafira Tourer Tech Line - easier.com
Vauxhall has expanded its Tech Line trim aimed at company car drivers to include the award-winning Zafira Tourer MPV with prices starting from £19,785 on-the-road.
Joining the Tech Line line-up of Astra, Insignia and the recently-announced Mokka SUV, Zafira Tourer Tech Line benefits from exceptional levels of standard spec combined with low P11D pricing and attractive Benefit-In-Kind charges.
The Zafria Tourer Tech Line comes with generous levels of standard equipment, including the Navi 600 satellite navigation system, Bluetooth and 17-inch alloy wheels. This is in addition to premium features such as chrome lower window mouldings, silver roof rails and high gloss black B-pillar and black mirror accents, and dark tinted rear glass.
Company car drivers have the choice of four engines: a 1.4 Turbo and 1.8-litre petrol or one of two 2.0-litre diesel units with 130PS or 165PS. The most eye-catching engine for company car drivers will be the 2.0 CDTi (130PS) ecoFLEX start/stop engine combining 119g/km of CO2 with 62.8 combined mpg.
“An array of eye-catching standard features paired with exceptional P11D values make the new Zafria Tourer Tech Line really stand out from the competition,” said James Taylor, Fleet Sales Director. “Zafira Tourer joins Astra, Insignia and the Mokka SUV in our Tech Line range aimed at company car drivers.”
The Zafira Tourer Tech Line is available to order now with first vehicles arriving in showrooms in September.
London politicians call for Munich '72 remembrance - The Guardian
London 2012 Festival: An Olympian feat? - BBC News
The London 2012 Festival launches on 21 June. The 12-week Festival is billed as an "explosion of arts and creativity" that runs alongside the London 2012 Olympics.
This Q&A asks why it's happening and looks at what's coming up.
What is the London 2012 Festival?The London 2012 Festival is the grand finale of the Cultural Olympiad, a programme of arts events that have been running since 2008.
The nationwide festival begins on 21 June and runs through to 9 September - the end of the Paralympic Games.
So it's not just about London?No, while there are many events taking place in London, the festival programme features events across the UK.
For example, Deborah Warner's outdoor installation Peace Camp, will see eight glowing encampments appear simultaneously in remote coastal locations, from County Antrim to the tip of Cornwall, from the Isle of Lewis to the Sussex cliffs.
Who are the star names involved?The list goes from Alan Ayckbourn to Jay-Z.
Among the well-known artists taking part are Damon Albarn, Daniel Barenboim, Cate Blanchett, Gustavo Dudamel, Tracey Emin, Stephen Fry, Antony Hegarty, Damien Hirst, Zakir Hussain, Anish Kapoor, Mike Leigh, Baaba Maal, Tim Minchin, The Noisettes, Yoko Ono, Simon Rattle, Rihanna, Scissor Sisters, Wallace and Gromit, Doctor Who, Julie Walters and Ai Wei Wei.
Artistic director of Handspring Puppet Company UK, Mervyn Millar, gave BBC News a glimpse of the creations in the show
According to the organisers, the Festival involves 25,000 artists from all 204 competing Olympic nations in 12,000 events and performances at 900 venues all over the UK.
The programme includes 137 world premieres and 85 UK premieres.
What's happening on the launch day on 21 June?The Festival opens with five headline events.
In Wales, artist Jeremy Deller's life-size inflatable replica of Stonehenge, entitled Sacrilege, will "pop up" at the National Botanical Gardens in Carmarthen.
In Scotland, an open-air concert set against the backdrop of Stirling Castle will be led by superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela who are joined by The Big Noise children from Rapploch.
In Northern Ireland, Londonderry hosts a Peace One Day concert with Pixie Lott, Imelda May, Newton Faulkner, Guillemots and Wonder Villains.
In England, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will present the UK premiere of Weltethos, an epic choral work by Jonathan Harvey.
On the same night French street arts company, Les Commandos Percu, will light up the shores of Windermere in Cumbria with a pyrotechnic show.
What else is happening in the first week?Other events include the unveiling of Yoko Ono's IMAGINE PEACE art installation on London 2012 Live Site screens at outdoor venues throughout the UK.
Australian comedian and musician Tim Minchin performs at The Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall.
There will be the world premiere of Crow, a production based on Ted Hughes' Crow poems, by Handspring Puppet Company UK.
BBC Radio 1's Hackney Weekend will feature more than 100 acts including Jay-Z, Rihanna, Florence + the Machine, and Jessie J.
Are artists from all the Olympics nations involved?Yes, there are events showcasing performers and artists from all 204 nations.
These include the BT River of Music on the Thames, the Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre, and The World in London - 204 photographic portraits of Londoners, each originating from one of the countries participating in the Games.
Who is running the London 2012 Festival?Royal Opera House executive Tony Hall has been the chairman of the Cultural Olympiad Board since 2009, with Ruth Mackenzie as Festival director from 2010.
What do they say?"When the UK won the bid for the Olympics in 2005, we promised to return to Baron Pierre de Coubertin's original idea of an Olympic Games based on the three pillars of sport, art and education." - Ruth Mackenzie
"With 10 million opportunities to take part in events across the UK for free, this is a festival that everyone can enjoy, try something new and experience art from around the world as part of the Olympic and Paralympic Games celebrations." - Tony Hall
Did someone say free tickets?Organisers are keen to point out there are 10 million free opportunities to take part in the festival.
These include events like the Hackney Weekend (100,000 free tickets) and the Peace One Day concert in Londonderry.
Are tickets going fast?Two days before London 2012 Festival began, organisers revealed that about half of the event's 4m paid-for tickets have been sold.
Another 2.3m free tickets, out of a total 10m, have been snapped up.
What are some of the main attractions?There is a comprehensive list of highlights in this article and you can dig deeper into the schedule on the official London 2012 Festival website.
The BBC's coverage of the festival will be under the spotlight in a special section of its Olympics website.
Haven't some events taken place before 21 June?Yes, some are already over. The Globe to Globe season - in which all 37 of Shakespeare's plays were performed in 37 different languages at Shakespeare's Globe, was officially part of the Festival and finished in early June.
Dance season Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch: World Cities 2012 has started, as has Elevator Repair Service's epic eight-hour production Gatz, a word-for-word staging of Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
What are some of the more quirky events?Where to start?
The Adain Avion project will see a wingless DC-9 aeroplane transformed into a mobile arts space tour around Wales (24 June - 14 July)
A string quartet will play live from four helicopters above Birmingham for the world premiere of Stockhausen opera Mittwoch aus Licht (22 - 25 August)
An artwork inspired by the final scene of The Italian Job will see a full-sized replica coach balanced on the De La Warr pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea.
And Monty Python star Terry Jones and Anne Dudley have created a new children's opera The Owl and the Pussycat that will travel through London's canals.
Let's talk money. Who's paying for all this?Principal Funders of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival are Arts Council England, Legacy Trust UK and the Olympic Lottery Distributor, which is investing £16.6m to support the Cultural Olympiad.
The festival has an overall investment of £55m.
Director Ruth Mackenzie says: "Some of you might think it's a lot, but I assure you, for a 12-week festival over the entire United Kingdom... [it] is a pretty small investment and I hope that when we do the final figures after the festival we are able to demonstrate pretty good value for money."
How will the festival end?Scottish choreographer Michael Clark has been commissioned to create a large-scale, participatory dance event at Glasgow music venue Barrowlands to mark the handover to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
After that Ruth Mackenzie and her team will begin the process of assessing how it all went. It's expected to take several weeks.
With additional reporting by Chi Chi Izundu
London trader and wife jailed for insider dealing - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - A British trader and his wife who helped fund a lavish lifestyle from illegal share dealing, were jailed on Wednesday in a landmark case pursued by prosecutors on both sides of the Atlantic.
James Sanders, who owned and was a director of now-defunct brokerage Blue Index, his wife Miranda and James Swallow, a Blue Index co-director, had last month pleaded guilty to a combined 18 counts of insider dealing between October 2006 and February 2008.
James Sanders, dubbed by Judge Peregrine Simon as "the driving force behind the criminality", was jailed for a record four years. Miranda Sanders - who was tipped off about imminent U.S. takeovers by her sister in America - was jailed for 10 months, as was Swallow.
The striking, sharply-dressed couple, who are both in their mid thirties and have two young children, saw their sentences cut by 25 percent after pleading guilty, although James initially argued his trades were legitimate stock picks.
They held hands while judge Peregrine Simon read out the case against them and kissed after sentencing. Miranda turned to smile and nod encouragingly at a woman in the court room's public gallery, who burst into tears on sentencing.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which brought the UK prosecution, said the three scooped almost 2.0 million pounds in profits from illegal share dealings, while Blue Index clients made around 10.2 million - a precursor to the Sanders' couple selling the business for around 8.0 million.
The FSA, which only started prosecuting notoriously tricky insider dealing cases in 2007 after being criticised for its "light touch" approach to regulation, had pushed for three custodial sentences despite the couple's young family.
"This was a case of systematic abuse by approved people of their privileged position in the market - we are determined to stamp out such abuse," said Tracey McDermott, acting head of enforcement at the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
"No doubt as they prepare to spend their first night behind bars, they will be reflecting on the consequences of their greed. Others, who might be tempted to do the same, should be in no doubt about our continued commitment to use all of the tools at our disposal to tackle those who abuse the market."
NAILED
The FSA was first alerted to possible insider dealing after spotting unusually heavy trade in U.S.-listed staffing services company Kronos ahead of its takeover by private equity house Hellman & Friedman Capital Partners in 2007.
Calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its U.S. peer, the regulator eventually pieced together the links between the Sanders couple and Miranda's San Francisco-based sister and brother-in-law, an M&A partner at accountancy firm Deloitte, "Annie and Arnie" McClellan.
In a tortuous case that involved trawling through 26 million emails and 800,000 phone calls recorded on Blue Index's office lines, regulators focused on dealings in five takeover targets: Kronos, Per Se, aQuantive, ChoicePoint and Getty Images.
McDermott told a journalist briefing there were "whoops of joy" in the FSA's offices when in one recorded telephone call, James Sanders' father Tim asks: "Is this not insider dealing?" James answers: "No, not really. Well ...". When his father laughs and says: "Try proving it", James says: "Yes, exactly".
A consummate trader, James Sanders told a newspaper in 2008 his mantra was: "Buy at the point of maximum fear" after snapping up a 5 million pound property in London's exclusive Kensington district for a 22 percent discount at the height of the credit crunch.
The FSA found what they called his "life plan" in his kitchen, in which he documented his plans to pay off his mortgages and luxury cars and resign from Blue Index by placing one 200,000 pound tip a year.
In a scribbled account, he put aside 100,000 pounds for a "car fund" and 50,000 for a watch, clothes, holidays and wine.
Blue Index was a specialist brokerage of contracts for differences (CFD), a tax-efficient trade that allows dealers to speculate on short-term price fluctuations of assets such as stocks by buying a percentage of their value, or "margin".
The FSA said the insider in the case was Miranda's brother-in-law Arnold McClellan, a senior partner at the San Francisco branch of Deloitte. It said Miranda's sister Annabel or Arnold leaked privileged, price-sensitive information to the British couple about U.S. securities listed in New York.
James Sanders then disclosed information to James Swallow and encouraged Blue Index clients to trade in those stocks.
Annabel McClellan has already been jailed for 11 months without parole and fined $1.0 million after being pursued by the SEC, Department of Justice (DoJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). No charges were brought against Arnold, who has now retired.
James Sanders, meanwhile, has been forced to park the Ferrari and has been disqualified as a director for five years. The court will decide on confiscation orders at a later date.
The FSA, which said it spent "millions" on pursuing the Blue Index case, is prosecuting 11 others for insider dealing - an offence that carries a maximum jail term of 7 years in the UK.
"This case really does demonstrate the FSA's determination to deliver criminal prosecutions for insider dealing," said Tim Dolan, a lawyer at Pinsent Masons.
"While the FSA have still brought relatively few criminal actions, and have not always been successful, results like this should go some way to deterring insider dealing in the future."
(Editing by Douwe Miedema and Jon Loades-Carter)
London’s parks show Occupiers the exit - Financial Times
June 20, 2012 7:35 pm
Assange risks arrest in London if he leaves Ecuador embassy asylum - The Guardian
Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, faces immediate arrest the moment he leaves the Ecuadorean embassy in central London, even if he is granted political asylum, police and British government officials have indicated.
He spent his first full day confined to the small Ecuadorean embassy in Knightsbridge on Monday, unable to move as his lawyers, diplomats and government officials grappled with the implications of his request for political asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden.
His surprise move on Tuesday evening has left some of Assange's most prominent supporters facing the loss of up to £240,000 in bail money provided to secure his freedom when he first faced extradition proceedings. Supporters including the activist Jemima Khan, film director Ken Loach and publisher Felix Dennis posted cash security of £200,000 with Westminster magistrates court with a further £40,000 as promised sureties when Assange was freed in December 2010.
Assange's gambit came after he lost the last of his many appeals against removal to Sweden to be questioned over sex crime accusations, for which he has been on police bail since December 2010.
He had been driven by what he called "really terrible choices" to make the last-ditch move, his New-York-based lawyer told the Guardian, believing it highly likely that the US intends to seek his onward extradition from Sweden on espionage charges over the WikiLeaks cable releases. "What he was facing was never seeing the light of day for the next 40 years," said Michael Ratner, of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represents the WikiLeaks founder in the US.
The Swedish lawyer representing the Australian's two alleged victims said the latest attempt to avoid extradition was "a tragedy for the women". Claes Borgström said the women were "frustrated" and "disappointed".
"The tragedy is that he doesn't take his responsibility. He should have come to Sweden," Borgström added. Assange has not been charged in Sweden and denies the allegations.
The Foreign Office has confirmed that the first-floor embassy – consisting of the ambassador's office and some other small rooms, one of which Assange is said to be occupying – is diplomatic territory and that while there Assange is "beyond the reach of police". But officials are adamant that even if Ecuador grants him asylum or a diplomatic passport, he faces immediate arrest the moment he steps out of the front door for breaching his bail conditions.
Even taking Ecuadorean nationality would not help, officials stressed, as he could not claim asylum in what would be then his own embassy. He is understood to have surrendered his own Australian passport to British authorities.
Metropolitan police officers attended the embassy , after confirming that an arrest warrant had been issued for breach of the Bail Act.
Anna Alban, the Ecuadorean ambassador, said she had met Foreign Office officials, and she explained "that the decision on Mr Assange's application would be assessed by the department of foreign affairs in Quito and would take into account Ecuador's long and well established tradition in supporting human rights."
Her government would be seeking "a just and fair solution to this situation", she said.
Ricardo Patino, Ecuador's foreign minister, said on Tuesday that the WikiLeaks founder had written to the country's president, Rafael Correa, to ask for asylum. Assange interviewed him last month for his TV show The World Tomorrow, broadcast on the Russian state-sponsored channel Russia Today, in which the president told him: "Welcome to the club of the persecuted."
Ecuador is the only country to have expelled its US ambassador over the WikiLeaks cable revelations. It was during the filming of this interview that an offer of asylum was made, the Associated Press reported, quoting a woman who had been present during the interview but had spoken on condition of anonymity. It did not say whether the offer was personally made by Correa.
Ratner said Assange's move had been prompted purely by his fears of future prosecution in the US rwhere a secret grand jury has been empanelled into the WikiLeaks founder, ather than a desire to avoid the Swedish accusations. "Had the US come forward and said, 'We will not prosecute Julian Assange, I think he would be in Sweden tomorrow to deal with the allegations of the sex crimes. It was not about that at all. It was only about the US."
Marianne Ny, the Swedish prosecutor who had secured Assange's extradition in the supreme court in London, is following developments closely, said her spokeswoman, Britta von Schoultz. Ny will not comment on Assange's decision to seek asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy until he is returned to Sweden. "It is solely a case for the British authorities to handle," Von Schoultz said. "When it becomes a case for the Swedish prosecutor, she will comment on the case."
A leading criminal lawyer said those supporters who had stood bail for Assange would have to persuade the courts why they should not forfeit their money. Oliver Lewis, partner at Powell Spencer and Partners Solicitors, said: "There would have to be a pretty good reason … Usually the court says thank you very much, you have lost your money."
Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club, was asked to offer surety of £20,000, and was unclear whether he would forfeit it. "The money is important because it relates to the welfare of my wife and children, but they don't feel they are at risk of being sent to America," he said. "I remain a supporter and it is important we recognise [Assange] is a western dissident. There are a lot of people who believe the work he did at Wikileaks was in the public interest.""
Khan confirmed on Twitter that she had also posted bail money for Assange. "I had expected him to face the allegations," she said. "I am as surprised as anyone by this."In his asylum request, Assange accused the Australian government of making an "effective declaration of abandonment", refusing to make interventions on his behalf to the Swedish or US authorities.
At a press conference, Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister, said: "Mr Assange's decisions and choices are a matter for Mr Assange We, our officials, our consular officials, will be in contact with him and also with Ecuador in London about this, but his decisions in relation to this matter are for him to make.."But the Australian Green party attacked its government's response as "feeble", saying it amounted to "malign indifference".During Correa's six years in office, his administration has continued to welcome foreign refugees, of which more than 95% have fled the protracted civil war in Colombia. On Monday, António Guterres, the UN high commissioner for refugees, commended Ecuador for being an "example of solidarity" by receiving Latin America's largest refugee population.
0 Responses to "London stung by U.S. attack on bank regulation record - Reuters UK"
Post a Comment