“What do we really know about people in power? We trust our lives to them. Their decisions affect millions. We know that some of them at least are not the nicest people on the planet. Could they be psychopaths?”
“What do we really know about people in power? We trust our lives to them. Their decisions affect millions. We know that some of them at least are not the nicest people on the planet. Could they be psychopaths?”
Inside the mind of psychopaths
An illuminating, if not slightly chilling, exploration of what makes a psychopath
The title, supposedly, refers to a Chinese saying that a “fish stinks from the head,” implying that this movie might be an exploration of how the dysfunction of our hierarchical society originates from those at the top of the pyramid.
I Am Fishead: Are Corporate Leaders Psychopaths?
Bill Crothers, who was head of government procurement overseeing an annual £40bn budget, joined Greensill as a part-time adviser in September 2015, two months before leaving the civil service.
The revelation that Crothers was working for the supply-chain finance group at the same time as being a senior civil servant came as parliamentary scrutiny of the Greensill scandal intensifies.
Labour will on Wednesday force a House of Commons vote on forming a new select committee to oversee an investigation into the Greensill affair. Boris Johnson is also likely to be grilled on the group’s lobbying during prime minister’s questions in the Commons.
Details of Crothers’ dual roles were outlined in correspondence between him and the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, a Whitehall jobs watchdog that has been scrutinising whether any government rules were breached.
The corporate and political scandal that has followed Greensill Capital’s collapse last month is fuelling calls for reform of state rules stipulating when former ministers and officials can take jobs in the private sector, and risks damaging Johnson’s government.
Johnson on Monday ordered an inquiry by lawyer Nigel Boardman into supply-chain finance and Greensill’s role, which is expected to focus partly on how former prime minister David Cameron lobbied ministers including chancellor Rishi Sunak to try to secure the company access to a Bank of England coronavirus loan scheme.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves described the disclosure that Crothers was working for Greensill while still a civil servant as “extraordinary and shocking” and called on the government to strengthen relevant rules.
“They need to . . . get everything about the Greensill scandal out in the open with a proper parliamentary inquiry,” she added.
Officials from Acoba wrote to Crothers and the Cabinet Office, the Whitehall department he worked in, after the Financial Times in March questioned why he had not asked for advice from the watchdog before becoming a Greensill director in August 2016.
Senior civil servants who move into the private sector are obliged to register with Acoba, which can advise against “unsuitable” appointments or prevent government lobbying by individuals for up to two years.
Lord Eric Pickles, chair of Acoba, in late March had told Crothers and the Cabinet Office that it appeared he had breached government rules when he became a Greensill director because he had not taken advice from the watchdog.
Both Crothers and Cabinet Office permanent secretary Alex Chisholm said in letters to Acoba that the rules under which he would have had to seek advice did not apply in the former head of government procurement’s case.
They both said Crothers was not obliged to contact Acoba because he had already taken on a part-time advisory role at Greensill in September 2015 while employed as a civil servant.
That appointment was approved by the Cabinet Office under its “internal conflicts of interest policy”, according to Crothers’ letter to Acoba. “This advisory role was not seen as contentious, and I believe not uncommon,” he added.
Senior civil servant held Greensill role while still in government FT
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A businessman who skimmed money off his three businesses to reduce his taxable income has had his appeal against ATO penalty assessments rejected by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
The man, who owned a tattoo shop, a business selling encrypted BlackBerry mobile phones and a hairdressing business, was found to have declared just $54,972 in earnings between 2012 and 2013, while failing to declare his income for 2011 and 2014.
The ATO then relied on his $150,000 income estimate to reveal a tax shortfall of $202,950 for the four income years and imposed penalties of $122,950.
Garnishee notices were then issued by the ATO, leading the police to hand over the $79,545 in cash and a further $212,406 taken directly from the man’s bank account.
The businessman appealed to the AAT, arguing that the Tax Office’s assessments and its administrative penalties were excessive, and sought to provide his own calculations to show what he thought his taxable income was.
However, his failure to keep any accounting records for his three businesses worked heavily against him, with the tribunal ruling that his bank transactions alone were insufficient to substantiate his taxable income claims, particularly when his cash activities could not be accounted for.
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The Library Cave
On June 25, 1900, tens of thousands of important historical manuscripts were found in a secret room within the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang, China, where they had been hidden for nearly a millennium..