Former tech CIO jailed for setting up £475k backhander scam with IT outsourcing firm A pro-outsourcing CIO whose first act at a new employer was to set up a £475,000 backhander scheme has been jailed for six years. Brian Chant, 62, took the bribes after joining procurement services firm Achilles in 2011, Southwark Crown Court heard. One of the first things he did was recommend outsourcing of various IT …
Up-vote because you are correct. But seeing them pull that scheme on everything here in Sweden at this point just makes me tired. Here the pattern usually is not school chums, but ex-politicians in top roles for a company that then gets sold public assets at bargain basement prices, or are awarded contracts for outsourced services at silly levels. And generally the pol in question was part of deciding that selling everything off was a good idea. Schools, any public building (that is then rented back to the government), etc.
The article states that his LinkedIn profile claimed he had a DV (Developed Vetting) clearance. When I worked for BT* we were told that a security clearance was not to be stated on a person's public profile, especially 'DV' as it indicated access to SECRET or TOP SECRET information. (Although us CLAS consultants had to have at least SC, and were named on GCHQ-CESG's web site, it was a bit obvious for some.**)
*OK, well, when I was employed by BT: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2015/08/12/british-jobs-meaningless
**Retired now, so all clearances have lapsed and frankly, I never knew anything that any spy would want to pay actual money for.
I had Positive Vetting (as it was called back in my day) I joined a company that did defence work and was asked if I had security clearance.
The only permitted answer was "I can't say". But which I would only know to say if I did in fact have security clearance.
We settled on them asking "would there be any difficulty in you obtaining security clearance?", to which I could legally and truthfully answer "no"
I had a high clearance when I was working in some nulcear industry. I was told quite emphatically that I was not allowed to go on holiday to anywhere east of Dubai as I would be in danger of being kidnapped for what I might know (which was nothing - I was only decommissioning stuff).
That sort of implies that the Eastern blocs all knew who had DV clearance - which was in itself worrying. Either that or the powers that be in the UK were making their roles sound much grander than they were.
One of my friends told me about his DV interview. The chap asked about living arrangements, and he admitted to living with his (female) partner. "Are you married?" "No." Interviewer sighs "They're all doing that these days." Previously it would have been an immediate rejection, but times change.
We were told to say "work of a confidential nature in the national interest" as if that wouldn't be a red flag.
Ironically I had a visiting Russian prof who was in the Soviet Academy of Science and his ID/unpronounceable internal Soviet passport had said something similar.
Which back in the day was the same euphemism that the KGB used for their staff. Apparently it got you very good service on Aeroflot
The difference is that they are elected officials and, as such, practically immune to judicial action unless they really, really push too far. And if they do really push too far, it takes a dozen years or so before anything actually starts catching up to them.
This guy was s mall-timer without a lot of imagination. He's already in prison and they haven't finished stripping him of his gains.
Brilliant retirement plan.
What a coincidence!
Possibly but he was clearly at both ends of the deal in that he influenced the buying and profited from the selling. If the company was unaware (or could reasonably argue that they were) that he was actually the buying decision maker but simply an intermediary charging markup the directors could be spared pokey. It's the degree of separation from the buyer that ends up being an important factor when selling in a no questions asked world.
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