Thursday, September 4, 2008

Thick As Thieves

From the Financial Times:
Watchers of political donations and property developers will be interested in the latest appointment of former attorney general Lord Goldsmith to the board of Frank Lowy's Westfield Holdings, the group behind London's biggest new shopping centres.

Lord Goldsmith was the attorney general who presided over the cash for peerages probe which focused on Labour Party fund raiser Lord Levy - an occasional tennis partner of Mr Lowy who collected £100,000 to advise Westfield on UK opportunities.

After the matter came up in parliament, then PM Tony Blair told the House of Commons that he was satisfied there was no conflict of interest in Lord Levy's relationship with Westfield, and the group maintained there was no political lobbying involved.
Lord Goldsmith, you might remember, is also representing the widow of former Georgian opposition leader and media tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili.

And worth noting that Imedi media, the TV and radio station, is now back up and running, and owned by Joseph Kay, a distant relative of Patarkatsishvili.