The Leader of the Council, Roderick Bluh stated that the MP Ann Snelgrove had made misleading comment in the adjournment debate in the House of Commons.
What she did say is on public record and my own knowledge led me to believe she had not misled Parliament. The only area where I had no direct knowledge was the statement that aQovia was an IoM registered company.
A family friend researched aQovia at his own expense and found there are three companies registered, one in the UK and two in the Isle of Man.
On re-looking at the briefing note supplied Scrutiny Councillors on December 14th 2009 it clearly states that the shares in Digital City are 40% owned by aQovia (UK).
My friend had previously downloaded the registration document of Digital City from Companies House (he has since checked and it remains unchanged) and it clearly states that the share ownership is 4 shares of a total of 9 owned by aQovia Ltd and has an Isle of Man address.
The details of the ownership of aQovia that are available would appear to suggest that it is an off-shore holding company and that the published secretary is an enabling person only. It is noted that the stated project manager for aQovia a one is Muhammad Ifran Malik who holds 10% of the shares and the secretary is Sarah Kilduff of the IoM address holding 90% of the shares. On searching for Sara Kilduff on the web, we can only find adverts for secretarial services for hire by her.
My thanks to Chris Watts in helping me download for my own assurance the share allocation of Digital City yesterday which remains unchanged. The ‘family friend’ is well known to Talkswindon and it is for him to fess up that he knows me.
The Scrutiny decision, exact wording will come later. Cllr Tomlinson junior proposed that a decision of Scrutiny be deferred until members were satisfied regarding who was a director of what.
Cllr Tomlinson senior, amended that officers give assurances required and the cabinet decision be supported. Cllr Moffatt (me Labour) was not content and demanded, that there also had to be clarity that due diligence was being done now as it clearly had not been done and that we needed to be satisfied on the provenance of any investments by a third party and that there was compliance with British law. No-one contested those remarks and the vote was taken. Cllr Tomlinson senior amendment was lost 5 votes to 4. Cllr Tomlinson junior substantive motion put and carried 6 votes to 3.
In conclusion I believe that Scrutiny did its job properly last evening.
Des Moffatt. Â For views of the original documents, contact me on 07709066707
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