Egyptian army controls secret funds, report finds


An Egyptian army conscript stands guard outside a polling station before the start of the first day of the 2018 presidential elections, in Boulaq al-Dakrour neighbourhood in the capital Cairo's southwestern Giza district on 26 March 2018, with an electoral poster seen behind inside the station depicting incumbent President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (C) between late Presidents Anwar Sadat (L) and Gamal Abdel Nasser (R) with a caption reading in Arabic "Support the Egyptian Army against terrorism". [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

Arabi21
June 25, 2021 

Informed Egyptian sources have revealed specific information and exclusive details about vast secret funds controlled by the Egyptian military institution as part of its financial assets, which are not subject to any sort of supervision. These funds are not included in the general budget of the state or even the armed forces' budget, not least because a large part is kept outside Egypt.

These "secret" funds clarify some of the ambiguities and answer many questions about the sources of Egypt's financial allocations for various national projects.

In response to questions about the source of the funds he spends on projects, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said in February this year that, "The money comes from Egypt, our country… It has been granted to us by Allah the Most Gracious." He stressed that what the regime is doing "is beyond the people's capacity, above the Egyptian state's capacity, and you are still asking about the source of the funds."
The truth is bigger than Sisi

At the 8th National Youth Conference in September 2019, Sisi responded to the huge commotion caused by artist and contractor Mohammed Ali by saying, "The truth is bigger than me… Bigger than me." This prompted some to wonder what this bigger truth is that he cannot reveal.

According to the sources, there is a general budget allocated for the armed forces that is deposited in a special account in the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and some other (unnamed) banks. They manage it quite independently, but there is a secret budget the details of which are known only to a very limited number of senior military commanders. This budget includes many items, most importantly Operation Urubah 90, special funds, dollar deposits and other items that are not represented on the board of directors of any economic entity controlled by the army.

READ: Biden writes another blank cheque for Sisi

Article 203 of the Egyptian Constitution is clear that: "A National Defence Council is to be established, presided over by the President of the Republic and including in its membership the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of the Interior, the Chief of the General Intelligence Service, the Chief of Staff of the armed forces, the Commanders of the Navy, the Air Force and Air Defence, the armed forces Chief of Operations and the Head of Military Intelligence."

This council is responsible for looking into matters pertaining to the methods used to ensure the safety and security of the country, and discussing the armed forces' budget. This incorporated as a single figure in the state budget. The council's opinion must be sought in relation to draft laws on the armed forces.



Egyptian walk past a huge poster of Egypt's former Defence Minister and armed forces chief General Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi outside the High Court in downtown Cairo, on 27 March 2014. [KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]

Its other jurisdictions are defined by law. When discussing the budget, the head of the financial affairs department of the armed forces and the heads of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the National Security Committee at the House of Representatives shall be included. The President of the Republic may invite whoever is seen as having relevant expertise to attend the council's meetings but they will not have a vote.

In April 2013, the armed forces' general budget was first included in the state budget for the fiscal year 2013-2014. The total military budget was estimated at 31 billion Egyptian pounds compared with 27 billion in the 2012-2013 budget.

In preparation for the ground offensive to liberate Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait provided the Egyptian armed forces with a grant of $1.1 billion. Former President Hosni Mubarak agreed that the armed forces would invest these funds for their own benefit provided that the money would be exploited to improve their efficiency.

The funds were deposited in various accounts in Greek and Swiss banks. Two years after the liberation of Kuwait, the Minister of Defence, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, obtained Mubarak's agreement to release 150 million Egyptian pounds to be distributed as rewards to commanders and officers, especially after questions were raised among military personnel about the Saudi grant.

There was also a sub-account allocated by the Saudi armed forces for funds to be granted as allowances for food, transportation and personal expenditure for officers and soldiers who participated in Operation Urubah 90. The sources confirmed that commanders gave officers and soldiers small monthly amounts while keeping the allocated funds for themselves.

Brigadier General Fathy Zaghlul, the operations coordinator in Hafr Al-Batin in Saudi Arabia, was responsible for this sub-account. After the Kuwait war it was discovered that Zaghlul had made an arrangement with his brother to go to Switzerland to open a bank account. He then transferred 32 million Egyptian pounds from the food, transportation and pocket allowances into his brother's Swiss account.

This fraud was discovered, but it took several months to find Zaghlul. He was ordered to return the looted funds but the military institution could not get the money out of the bank account. The then Minister of Defence, Youssef Sabri Abu Taleb, did not initiate any legal action against Zaghlul for fear of the scandal it would cause. Instead, Zaghlul was forced into retirement.

Such funds were still being invested abroad throughout Mubarak's term of office under the personal supervision of Tantawi and Major General Mahmoud Nasr, who was head of the Financial Affairs Authority for the Armed Forces, monitored by military intelligence. A portion of the money was invested in various projects abroad, as well as in transactions and speculations that were not included, of course, in the official records of the armed forces' economy or that of the state.

READ: New death sentences in Egypt demand us to seek clemency for the accused

"As soon as the 2011 January Revolution broke out," explained the sources, "Tantawi stopped all transactions on this account, which at that time was worth about $16 billion, as he wanted to transfer it to the official account of the armed forces in Egypt out of fear of the repercussions of the revolution. This forced him to reveal the truth about the amount and his position to the military council to involve it in the decision."

However, General Nasr suggested at one of the meetings of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that these funds should not be touched, nor returned to Egypt, under the pretext that the internal political conditions were not favourable. Out of fear that this matter would be revealed by the media, he proposed an alternative plan to say that this amount was deposited abroad for the purpose of sealing huge arms deals that did not take place because of the revolution. Tantawi was convinced of this idea and the amount remained abroad, but he made steady profits by depositing the money in the bank without making any transactions, or trading and speculating.

During the period leading up to the 2012 presidential election, Tantawi apparently started to have more concerns about depositing funds abroad, not least in case the incoming president was not on the same page as the military council. He was alarmed about General Ahmed Shafik's victory, because Shafik knew a lot about military affairs. Even though he had been away from the military institution for years, he maintained good relations with some senior officers, intelligence chiefs and former presidency officials.

General Nasr proposed a plan to Tantawi to transfer the affiliation of the National Investment Bank (NIB) to the Ministry of Planning, with the aim of freeing the institution from the Central Bank's supervision, and then appoint a consensus minister of planning; he wanted to task Ashraf Al-Arabi with this. Afterwards, and according to the same plan, the funds would be transferred to the NIB. Hence, Tantawi issued decision No. 285 of 2012 which stipulated the transfer of the bank's affiliation to the planning ministry as a first step to bring the funds from abroad.

The NIB is one of the economic and investment branches of the Egyptian state. It was established under the provisions of Law No 119 of 1980 for the purpose of financing all projects included in the general economic and social development plan of the State, by contributing to the capital of these projects or extending them through loans or other means, and monitoring their implementation. The bank describes itself as "a tool that the state can use to intervene in controlling the markets and implement its economic and social policies."




10 years on from the Egyptian Revolution
[Mohammed Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

As one of the leading financial and development institutions with massive potential and capabilities, the NIB is required to engage in events as a source and a recipient of influence and play an important role In light of recent economic changes in the local and international scene.

Following Mohamed Morsi's victory in the presidential election, Tantawi felt reassured that Shafik had lost and so did not feel the need to bring the money back from abroad. Nasr persuaded him to wait for some time under the pretext that they could convince the Muslim Brotherhood that there was good reason for keeping such a large amount of money abroad.

Meanwhile, Ashraf Al-Arabi actually became a minister. Not quite as planned, though; he was appointed in the Brotherhood government and the situation was not fully secured despite the prior agreement between them. This is why the decision to return the amount was postponed, despite the unjustified decision to transfer the NIB's affiliation to the planning ministry.

The sources pointed out that after 3 July, 2013, the coup leader, Minister of Defence Al-Sisi, met with the Military Council to thrash out the plan for him to run for the presidency, while telling it that all bank accounts, surpluses and profits of the armed forces would be at his personal disposal as President of the Republic and Supreme Commander. This was setting a precedent.

READ: Egypt to buy $4.5bn worth of Rafale fighter jets from France

The financial situation of the armed forces when Sisi became Minister of Defence in August 2012 can be summed up as follows: 164 billion Egyptian pounds of accumulated budget surpluses; $16 billion in deposits abroad (Urubah 90); and 3.6 billion Egyptian pounds in revenues from economic activity. The profit for the year's economic activity has been estimated at 113 million Egyptian pounds.

After Sisi took office as president officially in 2014, this file was assigned to Major General Nasr, who followed his time as head of the military's Financial Affairs Authority by becoming a financial advisor to President Al-Sisi in June 2019. Accordingly, Nasr was able to transfer the authority to approve disbursing all armed forces' funds to Sisi, who entrusted him with the task of collecting profits on a regular basis.

The sources maintain that the secret Urubah 90 deposit is still in a foreign bank account.
Army bank accounts abroad

A leak broadcast by the opposition Mekameleen TV channel in February 2015 indicated that Sisi requested Major General Abbas Kamel, who was serving as his office manager, to inform the former Saudi Royal Court chief Khaled Al-Tuwaijri to deposit $30 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait in the armed forces' account. Kamel asked how such a large amount could be transferred to that account. Sisi is said to have replied that it could be done by pumping it directly into the armed forces' accounts in those countries; in other words, into the accounts of the military attaches in the Egyptian Embassies in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait City.

The sources noted that some funds related to the armed forces' economic activities abroad are always placed in the military attaches' accounts, and not in private bank accounts, of course.

One of the reasons why Sisi dismissed his son-in-law, Lieutenant-General Mahmoud Hegazy, who served as chief of staff, was that the latter had reservations about managing these secret funds in this way. Hegazy apparently preferred to conduct the process in a legal manner. He was also in almost permanent disagreement with Kamel, who previously held the position of head of the defence attaches branch. Although they served in the army together, their conduct and actions were completely different.
The armed forces' massive funds

Al-Sisi is said to have sold land plots belonging to the armed forces between 2018 and 2020, along with the Suez and Ain Sukhna Roads, the Ismailia Suez Road and the Yellow Mountain, for 6.8 billion Egyptian pounds. The carry forward surpluses of the armed forces' budgets jumped to 342 billion Egyptian pounds this year, with a 200 billion increase since Sisi took charge of the Ministry of Defence. This entire amount, which has been transferred to a special presidency bank account, is under the control of the president.

"All these revenues, profits, invested funds, deposits and surpluses are increasing very rapidly, because the armed forces receive every penny they spend on projects, in addition to the government profits," added the sources. "However, in spite of cancelling subsidies and doubling the prices of all services, the budget deficit jumped to about 450 billion Egyptian pounds instead of decreasing, an amount paid annually by the government in dues for the armed forces."

Sisi instructed the defence minister to evacuate the area located on the other side of Salah Salem Street, including the main tank repair workshop, the main vehicle workshop, the railway station for the armed forces and the veterinary hospital, in preparation for selling these properties, along with the Military College. The price was set at nearly 1.1 trillion Egyptian pounds, under the supervision of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt.

Since 2015 Sisi has seized the accounts, revenues and profits of the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI) via the Ministry of Military Production. He has also seized the profits of the contracts allocated by the ministry to buy materials locally and abroad, separately from its factories. The president's profits are estimated at 2 trillion Egyptian pounds.



Billboards of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are seen in Cairo, Egypt [Mohammed Bendari/Apaimages]

"Military prisons, along with some civilian prisons, have been implicated in the furniture industry in an extensive and professional manner, in order to control the business," said the sources. "Thus, the regime agreed with a large number of furniture dealers to supply them with furniture with the aim of paralysing the original and traditional furniture industry in Damietta governorate in favour of the New Damietta, in which the army has secretly invested."

The profits ensured by the military prisons are transferred to a special account controlled by the Financial Affairs Authority for the Armed Forces, and cannot be used without Sisi's approval and the defence minister's signature. This is in addition to revenues generated by the furniture workshops led by the Second Field Army, the Third Field Army, the Northern Region, the Red Sea Sector and the workshops of the General Services Authority and Missions Authority, as well as the quarries.
The Central Auditing Organisation's monitoring mission

It is noteworthy that in March 2021, General Nasr stated that all the activities of the armed forces' production base are subject to the oversight of the Central Auditing Organisation (CAO), which commits to hundreds of oversight committees annually. He presented scanned copies of the first pages of the CAO's reports on the activities of the various companies affiliated with the armed forces, especially the National Service Products Organisation (NSPO).

However, private sources completely denied the validity of Nasr's claim. "None of the military economic activities are subject to any supervisory or even regulatory authority, not by the CAO, the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) nor the Parliament or the Ministry of Finance, despite the fact that very limited formal procedures took place in the past," they insisted. Indeed, everyone is well aware that there are certain things that cannot be addressed or approached, because this area is a major red line.

How, in this context, is it possible to monitor companies and transactions without even knowing they exist?

READ: Egypt biggest purchaser of Italy weapons systems, once again

We will fight for our projects

To explain the reason why senior officers of the armed forces insist on carrying on with these declared and undeclared economic activities, and their absolute refusal to apply any real oversight measures to supervise the flow of profits, the sources cited previous statements issued by Nasr after the outbreak of the revolution. "We will fight for our projects, this is a battle that we will not leave behind," he said. "The effort that we have been putting in for 30 years will not be destroyed by anyone else, and we will not allow anyone else to approach the projects of the armed forces."

The armed forces' economic activities were initiated in the 1960s, especially after the 1967 Six Day War against the occupation state of Israel, during which there was a campaign of popular donations to support the military institution and contribute to rebuilding it. This prompted the armed forces, pushed by feelings of humiliation, to have its own independent revenues and budgets that have been getting bigger ever since, to be exploited in legitimate and illegitimate ways that deviate from the norm, especially after the military institution became a deep state in its own right.

It is noteworthy that the defence ministry rejected a request by the then President Mohamed Morsi to allocate $1.5 billion to help the government deal with the aggravating shortage in fuel and other basic commodities. This illustrates perfectly the significant difference in the way that the armed forces as an institution dealt with Morsi and the way it deals with Sisi.

This report appeared in Arabic in Arabi21 on 23 June 2021

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

 Palestine security forces disperse protest against assassination activist Nizar Banat

 
Security forces block Palestinian demonstrators gathered to protest against the death of Nizar Banat, on 24 June 2021, in Ramallah, West Bank. [Issam Rimawi - Anadolu Agency]

June 25, 2021 

Palestinian security forces yesterday dispersed a rally organised by activists in the central West Bank city of Ramallah, condemning the assassination of activist and political opponent, Nizar Banat, Anadolu reported.

Eyewitnesses told the agency that the Palestinian security forces dispersed the rally, which started in Al-Manara Square in central Ramallah and headed towards PA President Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters, to protest against the targeting of Banat.

The eyewitnesses said security forces fired tear gas canisters and beat dozens of activists with wood and iron batons, causing many of them to suffer breathing difficulties or bruising.

The participants raised pictures of Banat and chanted slogans accusing the Palestinian security services of assassinating him.

A similar stand was organized in Ibn Rushd square, in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, during which the participants raised Banat's pictures .

Banat, an outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority and a former candidate in parliamentary elections called off earlier this year, died after Palestinian security forces arrested him and beat him with batons yesterday.

Family spokesman, Ammar Banat, accused the Palestinian security forces of assassinating him.

Ammar said the Preventive Security and General Intelligence forces stormed Banat's home at 3am local time and beat him with iron and wooden batons.

Banat sparked controversy after he demanded the European Union stop financial support for the Palestinian Authority (PA), following the decision to cancel the elections and over their heinous record of human rights violations.

Hamas: Abbas responsible for Palestinian activist's murder

Palestinians protest against the death of activist Nizar Banat in Gaza, on 24 June 2021 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

June 25, 2021 

Hamas says it holds Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas fully responsible for the assassination of activist and political opponent, Nizar Banat.

"The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, strongly condemns Abbas' security forces' assassination of the activist and political opponent, Nizar Banat, deputy head of the Freedom and Dignity List in the legislative elections," it said in a statement, adding that "this orchestrated and premeditated crime reflects the intentions and behaviour of Abbas' authority and his security services towards our people, opposition activists, and political opponents."

"Hamas holds the President of the Oslo Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and his authority full responsibility for all the repercussions and consequences of this heinous crime that is added to the series of crimes and violations of this authority against our people," it continued.

It added that it rejects the decision of PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh to form a committee to investigate the circumstances of the assassination, saying: "There is no trust in a committee formed by the authority, its government, and services for they all carried out the assassination, and must bear full responsibility for this heinous crime".

The statement called on the Palestinian people, factions and institutions to shoulder their responsibilities, take bold and responsible national decisions towards those involved in this heinous crime, and work to protect Palestinian people from the oppression, arrogance and criminality of the PA.

An outspoken critic of the PA, Banat was due to run in the parliamentary elections which were called off by Abbas earlier this year. His family said PA security forces arrested and beat him with batons yesterday, he was later found to have been killed.

Why did the PA kill Nizar Banat?

Palestinians gather for a demonstration in protest against the death of activist Nizar Banat, who died during his arrest by Palestinian security forces, in the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank on 24 June 2021. [MOSAB SHAWER/AFP via Getty Images]

Motasem A Dalloul
abujomaaGaza
June 24, 2021 

Today at dawn, Palestinians across the occupied territories were shocked to learn that a well-known activist in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Nizar Banat, had been killed by Palestinian Authority security forces.

The PA Governor in Hebron, Jibreen Al-Bakri, issued a statement about the killing. He claimed that the security forces aimed to enforce the law as they went to detain Banat on the basis of a detention order issued by the Public Prosecutor. He said that the activist died during the detention process due to health problems. He did not mention the "brutal" and "barbaric" way that Banat was beaten on his head and face. Bakri said that Banat was transferred to hospital, but his friends and family have searched for him everywhere, and insist that wherever he was taken, it was not to hospital.

According to Banat's family, "The PA security services detonated the door of the house, broke into the building and immediately started beating [Banat] with iron bars and batons while he was asleep, along with two of his brothers. They emptied three bottles of pepper powder in his face when he got up; stripped him of his clothes; lynched him; insulted him while he was bleeding; kidnapped him; took him to an unknown location; and murdered him."

Palestinian factions, leaders, activists and international officials have condemned Banat's "murder". The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, described what happened as a "full-fledged crime that reflects the bloody policy of the PA." It blamed the government of Mohammad Shtayyeh for "this unethical crime which is rejected by all Palestinians and unacceptable to all Palestinian traditions and norms."

READ: When will the Palestinians unite?

The UN Envoy to the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, wrote on twitter: "Alarmed & saddened by the death of activist, former parliamentary candidate, Nizar Banat following his arrest by [Palestinian security forces] in Hebron… I call for a swift, independent & transparent investigation. Perpetrators must be brought to justice."

The EU Delegation to the Palestinians also turned to Twitter: "Shocked and saddened by the death of activist and former legislative candidate Nizar Banat following his arrest by the PA security forces last night. Full, independent, and transparent investigation should be conducted immediately."

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Palestine, Lynn Hastings, added: "Disturbing news on the death of activist Nizar Banat shortly after his arrest by Palestinian Security Forces from his home in Hebron. I note that an investigation has been initiated and call on the authorities to ensure that those responsible are swiftly brought to justice."

Palestinian activists and journalists joined in the condemnation of the killing of Banat. Some made it clear that, in their view, he was "murdered" by the PA.

"The PA murdered Nizar Banat in a shameful way," said journalist and activist Ismail Al-Thawabteh. "The liquidation by the PA of activist Nizar Banat today at dawn is strongly condemned and must be deterred in order not to be repeated.



The wife (L) of the Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who died during his arrest by Palestinian security forces, grieves in her house in the village of Dura near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on 24 June 2021. [MOSAB SHAWER/AFP via Getty Images]

Thousands of words have already been written and spoken about Banat's "murder", and his name has trended on Twitter. Why, though, did the PA kill him?

Nizar Banat was an outspoken critic of the PA, Fatah and the PLO, all of which are headed by Mahmoud Abbas. He exposed many cases of corruption linked to them. The latest example was the PA-Israeli deal to exchange soon-to-expire Israeli Covid-19 vaccines for newly-produced vaccines intended for the West Bank. The deal was cancelled after it was exposed.

Banat intended to run for the Palestinian parliamentary election, and has been posting videos on his Facebook page about PA corruption and criticising the security cooperation between Ramallah and Israel at the expense of the Palestinian resistance and the principles of the Palestinian cause.

He was arrested eight times by the PA and tortured because of his views and activism against PA corruption. He was open about rejecting the peace made by the PA with Israel because, according to him, it met all the demands of the Israeli occupation and undermined all the rights of the Palestinians.

Recently, Banat phoned Muhannad Karaja from Lawyers for Justice, and told him that the PA was threatening him. He explained to Karaja that the PA intelligence services asked him to end his criticism of the PA and officials from Fatah and the PLO.

This suggests that the PA killed Nizar Banat to silence him, because he embarrasses the authority by exposing its conspiracies with the Israeli occupation plotted against the Palestinians. The PA killed him because he was a nationalist who believed that the authority is nothing more than a Zionist project intended to serve the Zionist project in the region.

Even though Prime Minister Shtayyeh has already announced that an investigation will go ahead, Banat's family, Palestinian activists and rights groups are sceptical about it being "independent and transparent" as demanded by representatives of the international community.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian NGO Network has warned that the PA's political crackdown on its opponents will turn it into "a police state governed by repression and a disregard for people's lives and their dignity under the reality of the occupation." It called for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to put an end to all infringements of civil rights and public freedoms to preserve the dignity of Palestinian citizens.

READ: 'There is no Plan B,' but accolades from Abbas are still forthcoming

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor

More US labour unions join alliance against 'Israeli apartheid'

June 19, 2021 

MEMO

People gather in Brooklyn to demonstrate in support of Palestinians in New York City, United States on May 15, 2021. Protests are taking place worldwide against Israel’s recent escalated actions towards the Palestinian people [Tayfun Coşkun / Anadolu Agency]

Vermont State Labour Council has announced joining alliance of Labor for Palestine which stands against "Israeli apartheid," raising the number of American labour bodies which joined this alliance to 15.

"Our affiliate Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO joins its counterpart at the Connecticut Labor Council in standing against Israeli apartheid," the council said in a statement posted on Facebook.

"This should come as no surprise," it said, citing its leadership's "reputation of standing on the right side of history and embracing rank-and-file unionism."

Meanwhile, in the statement, the council said:

We congratulate our affiliate for its undeterred and uncompromising solidarity with the Palestinian fight for freedom, and call on all in Organized Labor to support Vermont AFL-CIO's righteous vision of building a united, powerful labor movement.

On the issue, Executive Board Member, Helen Scott, said: "We have heard the call of Palestinian workers' organizations for global solidarity in their struggle for freedom and justice and we applaud the growing number of US unions that have responded with resolutions, statements, and workplace actions, such as the Block the Boat campaign. We, therefore, endorse US Labor Must Stand with Palestine."

The Zionism Discourse on Palestine Crumbling: Israel is an 'Apartheid State'

Several US unions and bodies have joined the alliance prior to Vermont, including UMN Clerical Workers Union, Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, Attorneys of Color of Legal Aid, Labor Against Racist Terror, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Central Jersey DSA, NYC DSA Labor Branch and others.

The alliance blamed continuous Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, which started in 1948, to the continuous US support for Israel.

"These crimes are only possible because of $3.8 billion a year (or $10+ million *per day*) in bipartisan US military aid that gives Israel the guns, bullets, tanks, ships, jet fighters, missiles, helicopters, white phosphorus and other weapons to kill and maim the Palestinian people," a statement said.

'Death to the Jews' would have caused an international scandal, yet Israel's incitement gets a free pass

June 19, 2021  MEMO

A Palestinian youth is detained by Israeli forces as a group of Palestinian gather to protest against far-right Israelis' slogans insulting Prophet Muhammad during yesterday's "flag march" at Damascus Gate in Old City of Jerusalem on June 17, 2021 [Mostafa Alkharouf / Anadolu Agency]


Asa Winstanley
June 19, 2021 

Go along with me on a thought experiment for a few minutes.

Imagine that British police forces permitted a crowd of thousands to march through an area of London with a high Jewish population chanting "Death to the Jews" and other similar violently bigoted obscenities.

Imagine such a group of racists parading through areas such as Golders Green or Stamford Hill spewing "May your shtetl burn" and threatening that a "second Holocaust" would come soon.

Then, imagine that the police, far from trying to stop such a poisonous event from taking place, actually took the side of the racists, protecting them as they went along. Imagine the police attacking not the racists, but instead a small group of anti-racist counter-protestors trying to voice objection to the anti-Jewish incitement taking place. Imagine the police assaulting the counter-protestors and snatching away their placards or flags.

Then, imagine that senior British politicians praised the police for allowing the racist demonstration to take place, bizarrely insisting that the "Death to the Jews" demonstration "had to be approved" and applauding the "excellent" management of the event.

Imagine that a well-known elected politician from an opposition party even attended the "Death to the Jews" demonstration himself. Imagine the same politician was recently exposed by the media as having praised 2018's Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, in which 11 Jewish people were murdered in their place of worship.

Imagine the politician suffered no negative consequences as a result of the exposure of his genocidal anti-Jewish racism. If anything, his hatred seemed to endear him even more to his voters. His party gained more seats in parliament and came close to entering a coalition government during the subsequent election.

Imagine that all this took place not just once, but every year.

All of this is surely an impossible scenario.Well, yes. Thankfully, it's certainly impossible in London, Paris, Berlin or New York.

But not in Israel.

Read: Israel shoots, kills 15-year-old Palestinian in Nablus

With a few adjustments, the same appalling scene just took place in Jerusalem, the city that Israel claims as its capital. With one key difference: the gang of racist thugs were calling for "Death to the Arabs" not "Death to the Jews", since they were themselves Jewish.

All this took place because Israel is an irredeemably racist state. A settler-colonial entity whose existence is premised on the violent expulsion and racist dispossession of the indigenous population of the land of Palestine.

One of the underreported aspects of the appalling festival of anti-Palestinian racism that we saw the Israeli government and police encourage in Jerusalem this week was the sheer age of the demonstrators chanting these filthy slogans.

The videos show young teens, and even children, chanting "Death to the Arabs" in Hebrew as they raged through eastern Jerusalem – the area of the city where the most Palestinians live.

The politician who joined them was Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Religious Zionism extremist party. Footage uncovered by Israeli television earlier this year showed Ben-Gvir dressing up as Baruch Goldstein.

Goldstein was a fanatical settler who came from Brooklyn, New York and massacred 29 Palestinians while they prayed in Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994.

This bloody terrorist act was actually rewarded by the Israeli Labor government of the day, as they imposed curfews on the city – not of the extremist Jewish settlers who plague that city, but of the native Palestinians who are the majority.

Yet – as I alluded to in my scenario above – Ben-Gvir suffered no damage to his political career, and came very close to entering a coalition government with the last Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

These forces are the future of Israel, the future of Zionism – the youth of the demonstrators show this.

Read: Calls to boycott Zara after head designer attacks Palestinian model

Yet, such genocidal scenes among the mainstream of Israeli society and the state are met with little more than a shrug by the West's hypocritical politicians. Thankfully, you cannot imagine the same silence were "Death to the Jews" demonstrations to be held.

In fact, the opposite is true. Israel's supporters seem to actively invent, exaggerate and fabricate anti-Semitism in order to malign, smear and harass Palestinians and their supporters in the West.

As many activists have pointed out, there is more fear and condemnation in the mainstream in the US, Canada and European political cultures of Palestinian calls for freedom and equality than of genocidal Israeli calls for "Death to the Arabs".

"From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" is a call for exactly what it says – freedom and equality for all in the entirety of historical Palestine. Yet those who use this honourable slogan are systematically demeaned and smeared as "anti-Semites".Even the call for an "Intifada" or Palestinian uprising for freedom is slandered as "anti-Semitic" by Britain's anti-Palestinian racists, such as Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust (a pro-Israel lobby group).

Until we impose and force a change on this hypocritical political culture that has been put into place by rut leaders, there is very little hope for change and freedom for Palestinians.

Amnesty highlights Israeli far right 'Tonight we are not Jews, we are Nazis' comment

June 24, 2021 MEMO

Far-right Israelis holding Israeli flags in Jerusalem on 15 June 2021 [Esat Fırat/Anadolu Agency]

June 24, 2021 at 3:42 pm


Israeli far-right supremacists shared selfies posing with guns and messages such as "Tonight we are not Jews, we are Nazis" during the occupation state's recent crackdown on protestors, a new report by Amnesty International has confirmed. The brutal clampdown followed an unprecedented show of solidarity by Palestinian citizens of Israel, who staged a general strike in protest at Israel's 11 day onslaught against the Gaza Strip which killed more than 250 people, including women and children.

The report investigated the conduct of Israeli police during May and June's crackdown on Palestinians. It found that a catalogue of violations were committed by security officials against Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem, including the use of unlawful force against peaceful protesters, sweeping mass arrests and subjecting detainees to torture and other ill-treatment.

The human rights group verified 45 videos and other digital media to document more than 20 cases of Israeli police violations between 9 May and 12 June. Hundreds of Palestinians were injured in the crackdown and a 17-year-old boy was shot dead.

Highlighting the systematic police brutality, the findings are as damning as they are deeply worrying. Israeli police actions were not only repressive, but were also discriminatory, targeting Palestinians disproportionately. The report found that Israeli officials failed to protect Palestinian citizens of Israel from premeditated attacks by groups of armed Jewish supremacists, even when plans were publicised in advance and police knew or should have known of them.

By 10 June, Israeli police had arrested over 2,150 people. More than 90 per-cent were Palestinian citizens of Israel or residents of East Jerusalem. The report found that most Palestinians were detained for offences such as "insulting or assaulting a police officer" or "taking part in an illegal gathering" rather than for violent attacks on people or property.

On top of the brutal crackdown, Israeli police also failed to protect Palestinians from Jewish supremacists who had organised attacks and publicised their plans in advance. Amnesty verified 29 text and audio messages on open Telegram channels and WhatsApp revealing how the apps were used to recruit armed men and organise attacks on Palestinians in cities such as Haifa, Acre, Nazareth and Lod between 10 and 21 May.

READ: Arab-Israeli MKs and civic leaders call on international community to act

The rights groups paints a shocking picture of the hateful communal violence targeting Palestinians. Amnesty found that messages included instructions on where and when to gather, types of weaponry to use and even what clothing to wear to avoid confusing Jews of Middle Eastern heritage with Palestinian Arabs. It was then that group members shared selfies posing with guns and messages such as "Tonight we are not Jews, we are Nazis".

Elected parliamentarians joined the wave of hate which was described at the time as "pogroms". According to Amnesty on 12 May, hundreds of Jewish supremacists gathered on the Bat Yam Promenade in central Israel, in response to messages received from the political party Jewish Power and other groups. Verified video footage shows scores of activists attacking Arab-owned businesses and encouraging attackers.

The report also documented torture carried out by Israeli security forces. One example cited in the report involved torture at the Russian Compound (Moskobiya) police station in Nazareth on 12 May. An eyewitness is reported as saying that they saw Special Forces beating a group of at least eight bound detainees who had been arrested at a protest.

"It was like a brutal prisoner-of-war camp," said the witness. "The officers were hitting the young men with broomsticks and kicking them with steel-capped boots. Four of them had to be taken away by ambulance, and one had a broken arm."

Amnesty is calling on the UN Human Rights Council's recently-announced Commission of Inquiry to investigate the alarming pattern of violations by Israeli police.

Israel slams new Polish Holocaust law as ‘immoral’ and ‘a disgrace’

The legislation, which must still be approved by Poland’s senate, sets a 30-year deadline for Jews to recover seized property

By AMY SPIRO

Poland's lawmakers during voting – some in parliament, some remotely – in Warsaw, Poland, on Tuesday, May 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called new Polish legislation that would bar Holocaust restitution claims in the country “immoral” and suggested it would damage Polish-Israeli ties.

“No law will change history,” said Lapid on Thursday, saying the bill “is a disgrace that will not erase the horrors or the memory of the Holocaust.”

The legislation, which passed late Thursday evening with 309 votes in favor, zero votes opposed and 120 abstentions, according to Polish state news agency PAP, sets a 30-year deadline for Jews to recover property seized by Nazi German forces, essentially preventing any World War II-era compensation claims or appeals of past decisions. The legislation must now reportedly be approved by the Polish Senate after being okayed by the Sejm, the lower house of Poland’s parliament.

“It is a horrific injustice and disgrace that harms the rights of Holocaust survivors, their heirs, and members of the Jewish communities that existed in Poland for hundreds of years,” said Lapid. “This is an incomprehensible action. This immoral law will seriously harm relations between the countries.”

Lapid said it was “extremely worrisome and grave” that Poland was ignoring the 2009 non-binding Terezin Declaration, which laid out guidelines for Holocaust-era property restitution.


“The State of Israel will stand as a wall of protection in defense of the memory of the Holocaust, as well as to defend the honor of Holocaust survivors and their property,” said the foreign minister.

In this February 5, 2018 photo, far-right groups hold a demonstration in front of the presidential palace to call on President Andrzej Duda to sign a bill that would limit some forms of Holocaust speech in Warsaw, Poland. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Social Equality Minister Meirav Cohen, a member of Lapid’s Yesh Atid party, also denounced Polish lawmakers for advancing the bill.

“Polish lawmakers should bow their heads and be ashamed of the step they took this evening,” Cohen tweeted.


A Polish Foreign Ministry official told the Kan public broadcaster that Lapid’s statement misrepresented the situation.

“Lapid’s statement showed a lack of knowledge because, like the Jews, the Poles were the target of horrific acts by the Nazis,” said the official, “and the law approved yesterday actually protects those Polish heirs from false claims and injustice.”

Earlier this week, the World Jewish Restitution Organization called for the legislation to be withdrawn.

“We urgently call upon Prime Minister Morawiecki and the Polish government to address the issue of private property restitution in a just and timely manner,” said Gideon Taylor, WJRO’s chair of operations. The legislation “would further harm Polish Holocaust survivors who have already suffered so much. In 2021, new, insurmountable legal conditions, that would make it impossible to recover property or receive just compensation, should not be imposed.”

Bix Aliu, the chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Warsaw, reportedly objected to the legislation in a letter to the speaker of the Polish parliament.

“Our understanding is that this draft bill would effectively make restitution or compensation for Holocaust or Communist era property unobtainable for a large percentage of claims,” Bix Aliu wrote according to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily, reported Reuters.


According to Ynet, President Reuven Rivlin wrote a letter earlier this week to Polish President Andrzej Duda expressing his opposition to the legislation.

The law would “very much obscure our joint efforts in strengthening the relations between our countries and in securing the partnership between our nations,” Rivlin reportedly wrote. “Since I very much appreciate the relationship between us, I have decided to appeal to you that your esteemed government consider the consequences of such legislation.”

On Feb. 6, 2018, Polish President Andrzej Duda announces his decision to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust, in Warsaw, Poland. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Holocaust restitution in Poland is unpopular among many citizens, and Duda campaigned against it ahead of his reelection last year. Many Polish citizens believe that claims should only be addressed to Nazi Germany and that it is unfair for Poland to pay out any damages from the Holocaust era.

“There won’t be any damages paid for heirless property,” Duda said last year. “I will never sign a law that will privilege any ethnic group vis-à-vis others. Damages should be paid by the one that started the war.”

Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not passed comprehensive national legislation to return, or provide compensation for, private property confiscated by the Nazis or nationalized by the communist regime.

Issues of Holocaust restitution and revisionism have repeatedly plagued Israeli-Polish ties. In 2018, Warsaw passed a law that made it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in Nazi German war crimes. The move sparked an outcry from Israel, but the standoff largely ended when Poland agreed to amend the law to remove any criminal penalties.

Last January, Duda refused to attend the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem after he was not invited to speak at the event. A week later, during a meeting in Krakow, Rivlin asserted that “many Poles stood by and even assisted in the murder of Jews” during the Holocaust, something Poland has worked to deny, despite historical evidence.

Leading Israeli historians have claimed that Poland consistently attempts to understate anti-Jewish atrocities committed by Poles before, during and after World War II.

JTA and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

Cyber Attacks Involving Huawei Devices in Canada Spiked after Meng Wanzhou Arrest

An uncovered government report outlines hacking threats. And prescriptions that raise privacy issues.

Bryan Carney Yesterday | TheTyee.ca
Bryan Carney is director of web production at The Tyee and reports on technology and privacy issues. You can follow his very occasional tweets at @bpcarney.

The report supports opponents of Huawei getting Canadian government contracts, including for next generation network technology, 5G. Photo: Creative commons licensed, Flickr.

Soon after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver, there was a spike in sophisticated cyber attacks attributed to Huawei devices in Canada, according to a newly uncovered 2019 government report.

Recovery from disaster is a long process, as this Museum of Anthropology exhibition demonstrates. Open until Sept. 5.

The report, aimed at outlining the most dangerous and actionable cyber-risks to Canadians, was commissioned by Public Safety Canada from Clairvoyance Cyber Corp. It was shared with The Tyee, Global News and the Toronto Star by the Institute of Investigative Journalism at Concordia, who acquired it via a freedom of information request.

If true, the allegation bolsters opposition to including Huawei in government contracts, including for Canada’s next generation of network technology — 5G, which will enable faster speeds and connectivity for new kinds of devices.

The refusal of the Trudeau government to rule out Huawei, arguably a Chinese state-owned entity, for critical infrastructure contracts is surprising to many security experts and puts Canada at odds with all of its fellow Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance members.

The report summarizes how China is alleged to be involved in “systematic computer network exploitation” and “espionage” of technology in the Canadian public and private sector.

Such spying and taking advantage of technology weaknesses has contributed to the “erosion” of Canada’s domestic network technology industry, forcing it to consider external suppliers like Huawei more often in technology “supply lines” for things like cell phone networks, the report notes.

“Soon after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada,” the report observes, “increased [Advanced Persistent Threat] activity was seen involving Huawei devices within... Canadian critical infrastructure and business.”

The APT activity the report links to Meng’s arrest involves sophisticated, likely state-sponsored hacks that enable actors to gain control of or access to systems, such as private, corporate and government email servers. These kinds of threats, the report says, can persist undetected for long periods of time.

The report does not elaborate on what kinds of “devices” were associated with increased activity. The term “critical infrastructure,” however, is more closely associated with equipment used in computer and telecommunication networks rather than consumer cell phones, though the company manufactures both.

The author of the report, David McMahon, is a computer engineer who has held top roles in the military, intelligence, security and privacy industries.

McMahon told The Tyee via email that security concerns prevented him from going into detail about how increases in APT activity — difficult to detect by definition — were measured for the finding.

However, the trend is documented in the cyber security industry, says McMahon, who pointed to a 2010 report authored by Citizen Lab founder Ron Deibert detailing hacks that wrangled private documents from targets like the Indian government and the Dalai Lama.

The Tyee asked Public Safety Canada, who commissioned the report, to confirm the spike in hacking activity alongside other key details, but did not receive a response by press time.

The spike is part of a trend of threats dating back years, or even decades, according to the report.

“Nortel was a wake-up call,” McMahon elaborated via email, referring to a 2004 hack of the Canadian telecommunications giant that is thought to have contributed to its eventual insolvency. (Nortel was, at the time, laying the groundwork for the development of the next generations of wireless networks, which would later come to be known as 4G and 5G; hackers stole reams of documents about the technology and sent them to China.)

McMahon also cited research showing China once even successfully diverted a large portion of Canada’s internet traffic, routing it through its own country to “facilitate espionage and targeting.” China did so by strong-arming network interchanges, which typically rely on collaboration among nations to deliver traffic along the shortest route, says the research.

Christopher Parsons, a security expert reached by The Tyee who also conducts research at Citizen Lab, points to a paper he recently authored which recommends Canada conduct tests in IT supply lines to detect and mitigate vulnerabilities that may be been injected into critical hardware and software.

In other words, the threat is real. But some of the recommendations included in McMahon’s report to Public Safety Canada may give privacy experts pause.

One recommendation suggested that Canada sponsor an “empirical study of cyber crime” through “direct network monitoring at scale.”

Right now, McMahon says, government security analysts rely on monitoring reports they receive from security companies and platform providers.

“We mean that a statistically valid data set of cyber crime is required,” McMahon told The Tyee when asked to explain what the report meant by “direct network monitoring.”

Industry has shown it can gather cyber threat intelligence at a large scale without impacting privacy, McMahon insists.



‘You Have Zero Privacy’ Says an Internal RCMP Presentation. Inside the Force’s Web Spying Program

READ MORE

Other monitoring tools, however, like the web surveillance tools the RCMP used for Project Wide Awake, have proved to be divisive and controversial, drawing calls of overreach.

McMahon’s report also includes an ambiguously worded recommendation that could be interpreted as a call to require technology companies to include “back doors,” which give government special keys to defeat privacy controls in technology.

“Law enforcement will need to abandon trying to regulate encryption or force industry to build back door vulnerabilities into commercial systems,” the recommendation reads.

Asked to clarify his position, McMahon told The Tyee that he now believes that governments should neither regulate encryption, which enables private communication online, nor force companies to create back doors. Instead, companies should assess their risks and make decisions for themselves, McMahon wrote.

If Canada did mandate back door vulnerabilities into encryption schemes in order to facilitate network monitoring, these vulnerabilities would be exploited by nefarious actors, said Parson.



Privacy Commissioner Launches Investigation of RCMP Internet Unit

READ MORE

The strategy has been called for by representatives of Five Eyes members including Canada, but is widely opposed by civil society and prominent tech companies. Although his report appeared to acknowledge the tactic, McMahon told The Tyee that it was unlikely to be approved in the near future.

How Public Safety Canada will interpret and respond to this, and other surprising recommendations in the report, remains to be seen.

Clairvoyance Cyber Corp. prepared the report after receiving a sole-source contract from Public Safety Canada worth $24,400, which is $600 below the threshold where such contracts require publicly bid solicitation, internal procurement documents obtained with the report show.

With files from Jared Dodds and Michael Wrobel, Concordia University’s Institute for Investigative Journalism.

Inside a ransomware attack: how dark webs of cybercriminals collaborate to pull them off

In their Carbis Bay communique, the G7 announced their intention to work together to tackle ransomware groups. Days later, US president Joe Biden met with Russian president Vladimir Putin, where an extradition process to bring Russian cybercriminals to justice in the US was discussed. Putin reportedly agreed in principle, but insisted that extradition be reciprocal. Time will tell if an extradition treaty can be reached. But if it is, who exactly should extradited – and what for?

The problem for law enforcement is that ransomware – a form of malware used to steal organisations’ data and hold it to ransom – is a very slippery fish. Not only is it a blended crime, including different offences across different bodies of law, but it’s also a crime that straddles the remit of different policing agencies and, in many cases, countries. And there is no one key offender. Ransomware attacks involve a distributed network of different cybercriminals, often unknown to each other to reduce the risk of arrest.

So it’s important to look at these attacks in detail to understand how the US and the G7 might go about tackling the increasing number of ransomware attacks we’ve seen during the pandemic, with at least 128 publicly disclosed incidents taking place globally in May 2021.

What we find when we connect the dots is a professional industry far removed from the organised crime playbook, which seemingly takes its inspiration straight from the pages of a business studies manual.

The ransomware industry is responsible for a huge amount of disruption in today’s world. Not only do these attacks have a crippling economic effect, costing billions of dollars in damage, but the stolen data acquired by attackers can continue to cascade down through the crime chain and fuel other cybercrimes.

Read more: Ransomware gangs are running riot – paying them off doesn't help

Ransomware attacks are also changing. The criminal industry’s business model has shifted towards providing ransomware as a service. This means operators provide the malicious software, manage the extortion and payment systems and manage the reputation of the “brand”. But to reduce their exposure to the risk of arrest, they recruit affiliates on generous commissions to use their software to launch attacks.

This has resulted in an extensive distribution of criminal labour, where the people who own the malware are not necessarily the same as those who plan or execute ransomware attacks. To complicate things further, both are assisted in committing their crimes by services offered by the wider cybercrime ecosystem.

Even a lone hacker draws upon the criminal capabilities of others. trambler58/Shutterstock

How do ransomware attacks work?

There are several stages to a ransomware attack, which I have teased out after analysing over 4,000 attacks from between 2012 and 2021.

First, there’s the reconnaissance, where criminals identify potential victims and access points to their networks. This is followed by a hacker gaining “initial access”, using log-in credentials bought on the dark web or obtained through deception.

Once initial access is gained, attackers seek to escalate their access privileges, allowing them to search for key organisational data that will cause the victim the most pain when stolen and held to ransom. This is why hospital medical records and police records are often the target of ransomware attacks. This key data is then extracted and saved by criminals – all before any ransomware is installed and activated.

Next comes the victim organisation’s first sign that they’ve been attacked: the ransomware is deployed, locking organisations from their key data. The victim is quickly named and shamed via the ransomware gang’s leak website, located on the dark web. That “press release” may also feature threats to share stolen sensitive data, with the aim of frightening the victim into paying the ransom demand.
Victims of ransomware attacks are typically presented with a screen like this. TechnoLlama, CC BY

Successful ransomware attacks see the ransom paid in cryptocurrency, which is difficult to trace, and converted and laundered into fiat currency. Cybercriminals often invest the proceeds to enhance their capabilities – and to pay affiliates – so they don’t get caught.
The cybercrime ecosystem

While it’s feasible that a suitably skilled offender could perform each of the functions, it’s highly unlikely. To reduce the risk of being caught, offender groups tend to develop and master specialist skills for different stages of an attack. These groups benefit from this inter-dependency, as it offsets criminal liability at each stage.

And there are plenty of specialisations in the cybercrime underworld. There are spammers, who hire out spamware-as-a-service software that phishers, scammers, and fraudsters use to steal people’s credentials, and databrokers who trade these stolen details on the dark web.

They might be purchased by “initial access brokers”, who specialise in gaining initial entry to computer systems before selling on those access details to would-be ransomware attackers. These attackers often engage with crimeware-as-a-service brokers, who hire out ransomware-as-a-service software as well as other malicious malware.

To coordinate these groups, darkmarketeers provide online markets where criminals can openly sell or trade services, usually via the Tor network on the dark web. Monetisers are there to launder cryptocurrency and turn it into fiat currency, while negotiators, representing both victim and offender, are hired to settle the ransom amount.

This ecosystem is constantly evolving. For example, a recent development has been the emergence of the “ransomware consultant”, who collects a fee for advising offenders at key stages of an attack.
Arresting offenders

Governments and law enforcement agencies appear to be ramping up their efforts to tackle ransomware offenders, following a year blighted by their continued attacks. As the G7 met in Cornwall in June 2021, Ukrainian and South Korean police forces coordinated to arrest elements of the infamous CL0P ransomware gang. In the same week, Russian national Oleg Koshkin was convicted by a US court for running a malware encryption service that criminal groups use to perform cyberattacks without being detected by antivirus solutions.



While these developments are promising, ransomware attacks are a complex crime involving a distributed network of offenders. As the offenders have honed their methods, law enforcers and cybersecurity experts have tried to keep pace. But the relative inflexibility of policing arrangements, and the lack of a key offender (Mr or Mrs Big) to arrest, may always keep them one step behind the cybercriminals – even if an extradition treaty is struck between the US and Russia.

June 18, 2021

Author

David S. Wall
Professor of Criminology, University of Leeds
Disclosure statement
David S. Wall receives funding from UKRI EP/P011721/1 & EP/M020576/1
Partners

University of Leeds provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation UK.

Toshiba shareholders elect to boot chairman after government collusion revelations

Despite Osamu Nagayama pledging to be 'an agent of positive change' earlier this week, Toshiba's shareholders were not compelled to keep him on the company's board.

By Campbell Kwan | June 25, 2021 -- 06:29 GMT (23:29 PDT) | Topic: Tech Industry

Former Toshiba chairman Osamu Nagayama.Image: Getty Images

Toshiba chairman Osamu Nagayama has been ousted by shareholders at the company's annual general meeting.

Another director that was part of Toshiba's audit committee, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, was also ousted during the vote by shareholders.

The annual general meeting held on Friday marked the first time Toshiba shareholders have come together since an independent investigation [PDF], passed by shareholders, revealed the company colluded with Japanese officials to prevent certain shareholders from exercising their voting rights at last year's annual general meeting.

The investigation, conducted by three lawyers, found Toshiba "devised a plan" with Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry officials to prevent Effissimo Capital Management, which holds 9.9% of Toshiba shares, from exercising certain shareholder proposals at Toshiba's annual general meetings.

"Toshiba's actions directly or indirectly had an undue influence on shareholders with the intention of effectively interfering with the exercise of shareholders' rights at this AGM. Therefore, we believe that this AGM was not fairly managed," the investigation's report said.

At the start of the week, Nagayama penned an open letter stating his "deep regret" about Toshiba's conduct and pledged to be an agent of positive change.

"I would like to express my deep regret regarding recent unacceptable events at the company which have eroded your trust in us," Nagayama wrote in the letter.

"I pledge to you that I will continue to be an agent of positive change, not a protector of the status quo."

On Friday, Toshiba shareholders were not convinced by Nagayama's pledge, however, as the majority of them voted for Nagayama to step down from the chairman role.

Shareholders also voted on nine other board member nominees, with those nine being allowed to keep their place on the board.

The voting tallies for each board member nominee were not disclosed, with Toshiba only revealing the voting outcomes.

With two board members being ousted on Friday, Toshiba said details of the changes in directors and officers, including the composition of each committee, would be made based on the results of the resolution at a future board of directors meeting.

"The company recognises the seriousness of the rejection of some candidates for directors," Toshiba added.

On the same day as the annual general meeting, Toshiba also reported it earned operating income of ¥104 billion for the fiscal year ended March 2021, which was a ¥26 billion drop from the year prior.

During the year, Toshiba also saw its employee count be cut by over 8,000 to 117,300.

County to pay $280K to journalists tear-gassed in Ferguson

Three journalists with Al Jazeera who were tear-gassed during a protest in Ferguson, Missouri, after Michael Brown's death in 2014 have settled a lawsuit with the county whose SWAT team fired the tear gas.

KAPTAIN AMERIKA

© Provided by The Canadian Press

St. Charles County agreed to pay $280,000, according to the law firm Lathrop GPM, which represented the journalists.

The St. Louis suburb of Ferguson became a focal point for the racial injustice movement after 18-year-old Brown, who was Black, was fatally shot by a white police officer during a street confrontation on Aug. 9, 2014. The officer, Darren Wilson, was not charged with a crime but resigned in November 2014.

The shooting led to months of protests that drew media from around the world. The Al Jazeera America journalists — correspondent Ash-har Quraishi, producer Marla Cichowski and photojournalist Sam Winslade — were preparing for a live broadcast when the St. Charles County SWAT team officers fired tear gas toward them. Those officers were among several from the St. Louis region who were brought to Ferguson during the demonstrations.

The law firm said video evidence contradicted police claims that tear gas was used in response to protesters throwing bottles and rocks at officers. The firm said several videos showed that there were no protesters in the area and no one was throwing anything at police.

St. Charles County spokeswoman Mary Enger said a SWAT team deputy fired the canister “to clear an area near what he did not know at the time was an Al Jazeera news crew.” She said the county and the deputy continue to “maintain that the deputy exercised proper judgment in firing a single tear gas canister during a period of unprecedented public disorder in the region.”

Bernie Rhodes, the attorney for the journalists, said the award was much larger than other settlements involving journalists in Ferguson because those settlements were reached before George Floyd's death in Minneapolis in May 2020, which was captured on video. Former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, faces sentencing Friday after being convicted in April in the death of Floyd, who was Black.

“The jury’s verdict finding Chauvin guilty of George Floyd’s murder represents a turning point in America: jurors will no longer rely on law enforcement’s version of what happened, especially where there is video that affirmatively disproves the police,” Rhodes said in a news release.

Jim Salter, The Associated Press