The mire gets ever deeper for Aaron Banks with news this morning that the National Crime Agency (NCA) has been given details of diamond smuggling in South Africa that he was allegedly involved in. The Sunday Times report that evidence, collected by South Africa’s organised crime unit, includes
a claim that Banks was 'dealing with Russians' and trying pass off illegally acquired diamonds from other African nations with output
from his own struggling mines. How much mud can be thrown at him before some of it really starts to stick?
The NCA have been investigating where the £8 million pound came from that he gave to Leave.EU for the referendum campaign. This has been going on since November 1st last year with no conclusions so far. I have asked myself several times how long it takes an innocent man to prove where his money came from? I could do it in about ten minutes.
Perhaps one of the reasons is the spiders web of wrongdoing and illegality is actually much bigger that we already know (HERE).
Not in the same league of illegality but certainly to be condemned is Crispin Odey the multi-millionaire hedge fund manager. After making £220 million 'overnight' on June 24th 2016 by short selling the pound and effectively betting it would drop after leave won, he has now spent £300 million taking up short positions on 16 British companies most at risk of from a no-deal Brexit.
After the 2016 result, he told the BBC:
“There’s that Italian expression – ‘Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca’ – the
morning has gold in its mouth, and never has one felt so much that idea
as this morning.”
He contributed £10,000 to Boris' leadership campaign, knowing that Johnson made a no-deal Brexit more likely.
I know where I'd like to stuff that l'oro and it wouldn't be his bocca.
These are the kind of men behind Brexit. Ditching the nation for personal greed. Meanwhile industrial manufacturing which provides much of nation's wealth continues to struggle. The economy shrank in the second quarter and we may be headed for a recession very soon according to this report in The Guardian. It says exports of industrial goods has 'stalled' and that UK firms with their poor investment record are badly placed to withstand the shock of Brexit and a slowing down of the world economy:
"UK companies have been borrowing heavily since the 2008 crash. Most
of the funds have been used to pay generous dividends, rather than being
ploughed into new equipment or research and development.
"According to analysis of industrial companies by US risk assessment
company Credit Benchmark, British firms have allowed their financial
situation to deteriorate to such an extent that they are much more
vulnerable to a shock than their peers in Europe or the US".
But don't worry about Crispin Odey he'll be fine. As for Aaron Banks, perhaps not. Let's see what the NCA have on him.
