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Newman can't shake MP's fund scandal

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 17 Maret 2013 | 09.29

UNDER FIRE: MP Scott Driscoll faces several serious accusations. Picture: Glenn Barnes Source: The Courier-Mail

A STATE Liberal National Party MP has been secretly controlling a taxpayer-funded community association that helps the homeless and other people in need, funneling tens of thousands of dollars in consultancy fees to his wife's company.

The Courier-Mail has established that Redcliffe MP Scott Driscoll has been directing the operations of the Regional Community Association of Moreton Bay, a provider of frontline social services to his electorate, from behind the scenes since becoming an MP.

Mr Driscoll cemented control - with the help of friendly RCAMB members - installing political mates on the board in 2012, getting his wife a job on the payroll and having dissenting staff removed and forcing a troublesome board member to resign.

Former RCAMB staffers have told The Courier-Mail that money was so tight last year they could not access funds to buy food for homeless clients of the RCAMB, which received about $1.6 million in public funding and donations in 2012.

It has been established that Mr Driscoll has had secret day-to-day control of the management of the RCAMB for at least the past 12 months, while Norsefire, a company owned by his wife Emma and where he was sole director until she took over on February 25, received almost $120,000 for consultancy work, only some of which was actually performed.

Emails, invoices and other documents show Norsefire charged $1000 a week until the middle of last year for "media communications strategy and management" and subsequently $2600 a week for "secretariat management fees".

From August 2012 there is no evidence of Norsefire having any employees to conduct any work on behalf of RCAMB.

Even prior to this, RCAMB staff say there was little evidence of any benefit from the "press liaison" work they understood Norsefire had been contracted to do.

Mrs Driscoll, a florist, was from late last year on the payroll as "HR admin officer".

Mr Driscoll wrote her job description, which includes "formal qualification requirement: nil".

On February 28, a day after the Department of Communities asked RCAMB, formerly known as the RCA, for information about payments to consulting companies, Emma Driscoll sent an email to a colleague at the association asking for help to "delete what is in the drop box that was on my laptop which I have of course left at RCA".

"Is there a way we/you can do a complete sweep of that computer both files/trash/word docs etc ... so there is nothing left on there?" she asks.

All the members of the RCAMB board during 2012 except one worked on Mr Driscoll's election campaign, including his campaign director Ben Scott, his campaign treasurer Geoff Jamieson and former local Federal LNP chairman Brian Roselt. Its president until last month was Bruce Mills, another supporter.

The Courier-Mail understands Mr Mills held about half of the votes of the RCAMB's 20 members as proxies, which with the votes of Mr Jamieson, Mr Scott and Mr Roselt gave Mr Driscoll's political mates control of the board.

The other member of the board is understood to be a "client" of the RCAMB's mental health program.

When former RCAMB Treasurer Terry Rogers, himself a former state MP, questioned Norsefire's involvement in the association in March 2012, Mr Driscoll wrote to Mr Mills and Mr Scott saying: "The buck stops with an elected MP or Minister to make any required disclosures not Terry Rogers ...

"I personally suggest it's time his position on this board was considered for him and action taken pretty quickly right now".

Mr Rogers was forced to resign from the board shortly afterwards.

Mr Driscoll has disclosed his directorship of Norsefire but has publicly distanced himself, saying it is "100 per cent owned by my wife".

He has only ever described himself as "patron" of the RCAMB.

But emails show he micromanaged the body, giving instructions on everything from financial audits and how to respond to demands for information from bureaucrats to which airconditioning company should be used.

In January he even banned staff from participating in free health checks provided by Medicare Local.

"The fact paid RCA staff at large are being encouraged or allowed to avail themselves of funded services while the staff are meant to be working in essentially a government funded role could understandably create a catastrophic PR disaster," Mr Driscoll wrote to services manager Tracey Slater on January 17.

Emails also show Mr Driscoll presented Norsefire invoices to RCAMB and chased up payments.

Federal and State Governments are investigating the RCAMB over allegations of mismanagement and financial irregularities following complaints by staff.

Mr Driscoll did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Mills did not respond to questions. Mrs Driscoll could not be reached.

Mr Driscoll won the seat of Redcliffe at the LNP's landslide election victory last year.

Redcliffe had long been considered a Labor stronghold but the force of the LNP victory meant such seats were swept to the conservatives. Mr Driscoll has received strong support from Premier Campbell Newman in Parliament in recent weeks under scrutiny from the Labor Opposition.


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Prince Harry hits town with girlfriend

PRINCE Harry and his girlfriend Cressida Bonas have spent a night out together in London a month after their much-publicised hug on a Swiss ski slope.

Britain's Sunday Daily Star declared on its front page that the Friday night drinks proved "She's the one".

The tabloid splashed photos of the pair leaving reggae bar The Rum Kitchen in Notting Hill.

"Friday night was her (Ms Bonas's) biggest test as the couple faced photographers after hitting several London nightspots," the newspaper stated.

"Dance student Cressida passed with flying colours."

The Mail on Sunday reported Prince Harry, 28, and Ms Bonas, 24, headed straight to The Rum Kitchen's basement nightclub where they drank rum cocktails and danced.

"They looked very much like a couple," the UK tabloid reported one onlooker as saying.

"They were very affectionate. They were hugging and they kissed a few times."

The pair reportedly left separately just after 1am on Saturday morning London time.

Prince Harry's well-documented embrace with Ms Bonas at the Swiss ski resort of Verbier in February led one royal correspondent to note at the time he'd declared his love "in an unprecedented public display of affection".

The third-in-line to the royal throne split with former flame Chelsy Davy in 2010. He was first linked with Ms Bonas in mid-2012.


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Somalia frees rape interview journalist

SOMALIA'S Supreme Court has freed a reporter imprisoned for interviewing a woman who alleged she had been raped by soldiers, in a case that has sparked widespread international criticism.

Supreme Court judge Aidid Abdulahi Ilkahanaf said the charges had been dropped and the court "has given journalist Abdiaziz Abdinuur his freedom back".

Both Abdinuur and the woman were initially sentenced to a year in prison for "offending state institutions". But all charges were dropped against the woman earlier this month, while Abdinuur's sentence was halved.

His release, following more than two months' incarceration and after an appeals court ruled he must remain in jail, came as a surprise to many.

The 25-year-old reporter walked out of the courtroom offering prayers of thanks for his release and thanking those who had supported him.

"I'm very happy that I got my freedom back, I thank those who worked in this process that helped my release including my lawyers", he said.

Abdinuur was detained on January 10 while researching sexual violence in Somalia, but did not air or print a story after interviewing the woman.

He was also found guilty of "making a false interview, and entering the house of a woman whose husband was not present".

The court had initially deemed the woman's story to be false after a midwife conducted a "finger test" to see if she had been raped, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) said was an "unscientific and degrading practice that has long been discredited".

When she was sentenced, the woman was allowed to defer her prison term for six months to breastfeed her infant.

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said at the time he was "deeply disappointed" over the case.

Abdinuur works for several Somali radio stations and international media outlets.


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Alstom India boss rescued from kidnappers

THE India head of French multinational engineering group Alstom has been rescued over the weekend hours after being kidnapped near New Delhi, police say.

Police said Rathin Basu was abducted by a group of five men, at least one of whom was armed, late on Friday.

The kidnappers forced him to stop his car and pushed him into their white Camry in Delhi's satellite city of Noida before driving to the northern town of Meerut, said Meerut senior superintendent of police Deepak Kumar.

"We sent out 70 policemen to map the area from Noida to Meerut and after a firefight with the kidnappers, we finally found Mr Basu around 4am on Saturday," Kumar told AFP.

The executive, reportedly in his 60s, was found handcuffed in a small and dingy room, police said.

Kumar said a shopkeeper in Noida is thought to have masterminded the kidnapping. "He was in financial trouble and thought this would help, so he sent his servants and his drivers to do the job," the officer said.

The shopkeeper is being questioned by Noida police, after officers found phone records showing several overnight calls made by the alleged kidnappers to him during the incident.

Basu's family received no demands for ransom during that period, Kumar said.

Three of the five men involved in the kidnapping have been arrested on charges of abduction and attempted murder.


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I hope baby is a boy, Kate reveals

THE Duchess of Cambridge has told a soldier she would like her baby to be a boy as she attended a St Patrick's Day parade at a military barracks.

But Kate, who is five months pregnant, said the Duke, who attended the event with her, would prefer to have a girl.

Ahead of watching the parade at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, the duchess suffered an embarrassing mishap when the heel of one of her shoes became stuck in a drain.

Kate, who showed patriotic spirit in the same green Emilia Wickstead dress coat she wore to the event last year, had to lean on William while she pulled it out with her hand.

Afterwards, the royal couple chatted to soldiers from the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in the Guardsmens' cookhouse.

Guardsman Lee Wheeler, 29, said: "I was talking to her about the baby, of course.

"I asked her 'do you know if it's a girl or boy', and she said 'not yet'.

"She said 'I'd like to have a boy and William would like a girl'. That's always the way.

"I asked her if she had any names yet and she said no.

"I said I suppose you've got to stick to traditional names."


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William given aide-de-camp position

THE Duke of Cambridge has been made a personal aide-de-camp to the Queen, it has been announced.

William's honorary appointment was detailed in the Court Circular and the duke wore the insignia for the first time at the St Patrick's Day parade for the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire.

The position has few duties but will be seen as symbolic of William's growing role within the royal family.

It comes after a week in which the monarch, who has been suffering from the symptoms of gastroenteritis, cancelled most of her public engagements.

The Court Circular stated the Queen "has been pleased to appoint The Duke of Cambridge as a Personal Aide-de-Camp to Her Majesty" with effect from Sunday.

Queen Victoria was the first to institute the appointment of a small group of personal aides-de-camp (ADC) positions, with one of the earliest holders being Prince Louis of Battenberg.

William's father Prince Charles is also a personal aide-de-camp to the monarch.

The Duke of Edinburgh was made personal aide-de-camp by the Queen's father, King George VI.

Principal ADC is an office held by some high-ranking officers in the Armed Services and includes carrying out duties such as attendance on the Queen at the state opening of parliament or representing the Queen at memorial services.

Other ADCs, rarely asked to perform any duties, are also chosen from the Armed Services.

Last year, second in line to the throne William was given the highest honour in Scotland after being installed as a Royal Knight of the Order of the Thistle at a service in Edinburgh.

He is also a Knight of the Garter.


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Irish 'kidnapping' victim 'made up story'

AN Irish property developer who alleged he was kidnapped and held captive for eight months made up the extraordinary story, it has been claimed.

Kevin McGeever reportedly came clean after being arrested on suspicion of wasting police time on Thursday.

The former tycoon from Mayo - who was emaciated and disorientated when found wandering a roadside barefoot - said he made up the elaborate tale to escape financial pressure.

Police sources said the 68-year-old caved under questioning, according to the Sunday Independent.

The newspaper reported the cash-strapped McGeever admitted to staging his kidnapping and subsequent release to keep investors off his back.

His plan went awry when the couple who found him wandering the Cavan-Leitrim border on January 29 insisted on bringing him to a police station, which led to a full-scale investigation.

McGeever, who had lost about 32kg, claimed he had been abducted at gunpoint from his gated mansion in May last year.

The businessman had the word "thief" inked on his forehead when he was found. His beard had grown out and his finger nails had not been cut for months.

He has since admitted the eight-month ruse was an attempt to get breathing space from people hounding him for cash.

He also hoped they would leave him alone following his emergence from the alleged captivity for fear they might become suspects in the "abduction", the Sunday Independent reported.

McGeever said he lived in self-imposed exile in a remote part of the west of Ireland.

He was quizzed by police for 24 hours but released without charge on Friday night.

A police spokesman said on Sunday a file was being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.


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