Doctor Goebbles could not have done it better.
Culpable involvmentby these
companies:
Citigate
Dewe
Rogerson, UK Jackson Wells, Sydney Hill&Knowlton: Headquarters New York.
The first PR machine in the
UK.
Citigate Dewe
Rogerson,London.
This company was the first of Ali's pressmen who were either duped by
Ai, or succumbed to the attractive fees offered, and went along with
anything he stated and requested be released.
In either event, they failed to apply any sort of diligence or truth
test to what Ali stated, and continued to issue press releases for
perhaps a year. These carefully crafted press releases on subjects such
as the announcement of the rescue of McCabes, and later Ali's
negotiations with the Blackburn Rovers Football Club, which were all a
sham anyway, were designed to give Ali and Western Gulf Advisory
credible "credentials' on a world stage. And they did. After all, if a
well etablished PR firm issued a press release, the newspapers ran the
stories without due
diligence of their own.
Why would't they, they have dealt with this company for years and had
no reason to doubt the veracity of the claims being made. And Ali of
course played his role in the prolonged negotiations with Blackburn
because those negotiations alone provided all the sporting press with a
great story. The only hiccup was the BBC's comments, but that faded
after a while and Ali's reputation simply grew, and potential borrowers
by the dozen began to line up for their loans and pay their fees. And
anyone trying to get confirmation from McCabes were simpy told that
their dealings were of a confdential nature and couldn't be disclosed
under the terms of WGA's confidentiality agreement. The cash cow had
begun to give milk and Ali's cashflow grew massively. The PR Machine in
Australia
Jackson Wells, Sydney.
This company was engaged in Australia to handle Ali's press releases to
newsapers including The Australian
and the Financial Review,
and a handfull of regional newspapers where projects were first
announced. Articles announcing the Landmark Business Developments
International and Regional Land Pty Ltd deal in Gawler, north of
Adelaide, were the first, and were promoted as having ". . gained the
credit line from the Middle East group Western Gulf Advisory."
The article went on to quote Regional Land's Matt Somers' views on the
development, and any reader would be left with the thought that this
was already a done deal. Wrong - it never happened. In fact Somers and
his associates John Mulally and Alan Keller have apparently had a
falling out. As an aside mention, we can advise that Matt Somers' Lexus
was reposessed last week! No comment from Jackson Wells on this one!
The next big story released was WGA's rescue of Cubbie Station, one of
the world's largest cotton farms, located in Queensland. Again, like
the Blackburn Rovers, the story of Ali's bid for Cubbie went on for
months but eventually it fizzled as the lender, WGA, didn't come up
with the money. But it was portrayed in the Australian press, thanks to
Jackson Wells, as a done deal only subject to Foreign Investment Review
Board (FIRB) permission. Indeed, WGA's Omer Khan has confirmed this
story many times over to potential borrowers on their own due diligence
trail. Khan simply tells people to read the press. And of course, the
FIRB will not comment. And neither will Cubbie's chairman Keith Delacy,
former state treasurer of Queensland. Delacy is a full time director
and current chairman of Macarthur Coal Limited, Nimrod Resources
Limited, Reef Coporate Services Limited and Queensland Energy Resources
Limited, all listed public companies. But it's all over the press for
months and again, as in the UK, hopeful borrowers queue up at Ali's
door and hand over their money. Cubbie are victims also, and based on
the loan amount publicised by Jackson Wells of $320 Million, may have
paid out some $5 Million in fees. Delacy will not speak up - too
embarrasing in front of his industry peers for it to be discovered that
he was duped. Might cost him all his directorships. Credibility must be
kept at all cost, and that's another way Ali wins - his victims are too
frightened or embarrassed to talk.
There have been other press releases of a similar nature relating to
other prominent developments, but it would take another page to go
through them in detail.
Suffice to say that Jackson Wells continued to manipulate the press
long after the Landmark and Regional Land deals had fallen over.
Landmark was deregistered in April 2010 and a replacement "business"
name only is currently listed as a NSW business entity only. It is no
longer a company. Yet Landmark's Alan Keller continues to confirm to
borrowers that WGA are real and that he is indeed seeking a further
loan from WGA himself. All this gives comfort to new clients looking
for funding.
The Keller connection as a
recruiting agent for WGA goes back to a public notice in The Australian in December 2009 it
reads:
Landmark Business Developments
International Limited
(LBDI) has procured a funding line of USD $100M from Western
Gulf Advisory AG of Bahrain (WGA) to enable LBDI to acquire
properties in Australia and Vanuatu. WGA is at:
info@westerngulfadvisory.com
Link to notice in The Australian: http://www.lottos.com.au/forum/viewthreadlite.php?tid=199646
Interestingly, Keller and Mulally,
a
lawyer, are co-directors of six other currently registered companies in
Australia. Odd that Mulally is also acting for WGA as their legal
representative in Australia, a clear conflict of interest. And it is
widely known in Sydney that Mulally and John Wells of Jackson Wells are
close friends.
John
Wells of Jackson Wells From their Code of Ethics:"The ethical principals on
which our company is founded
comprise
trust, respect, reponsibility and equity"
"We expect our
employees to . . . . inform and advise honestly."
We understand that Mr Wells has resigned as a director of Jackson Wells
since Wikifrauds first published on February 5.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hill and
Knowlton, New York and
Worldwide.
When Wikifrauds first heard of the recent appointment of Hill &
Knowlton to "clean-up" Ali's image, we perhaps thought naievly that we
should give them a tip off to stay clear before Ali's house of cards
crumbles. We sent them an email (below) to which we have had no
reponse. The email was sent to every regional office and to their CEO
Dan Bartlett two weeks ago:
Email to Hill and Knowlton:
"Dear Sirs, Wikifrauds is a site
dedicated
to investigating and exposing serious fraud on a major international
scale. We have been advised that your
organization may have been recently engaged by a company called
“Western Gulf
Advisory” registered in both Switzerland
and Bahrain,
and headed up by one Ahsan Ali Syed. Our investigations reveal that
this company is a fraud, and similar investigations are now taking
place by the
Swiss Federal Police, the Israeli authorities, and Interpol. Further,
we are
advised that Ali is wanted by the Police in Hyderabad, India,
to face fraud charges there which were committed back in 2001/2002.
This “heads up” is intended to
hopefully have your esteemed company maintain its worldwide reputation
of
integrity and high due diligence performance. Western Gulf Advisory
(WGA) has left
a trail of destroyed and distraught companies in Australia alone over
the last
twelve months, and in doing so has amassed well over $25 million in
up-front
loan fees for capital loans which have never taken place. Indeed, the
Swiss
authorities have requested Wikifrauds supply hard information from
victims to
assist them in bringing the matter to justice. We are in the process of
furnishing them with bank account details for monies sent to them over
the last
year, which victims have already kindly supplied to us. Wikifrauds is asking
you to
review any relationship you may have with WGA and to decide to act
accordingly.
When WGA is finally shut down by the authorities, which it most
certainly will
be, it would be a great shame and blight on your company to have been
associated with it.
For more detailed information,
please visit the website:www.wikifrauds.netIt will be a matter of
public
record that we have sent you this early advice, so your earnest
attention is
requested, and we are confident that you will react in the best
interests of
your organization.
Hill and Knowlton pressure the
New Zealand journalist.
The esteemed New Zealand financial journal, The National Business Review
ran an article on Feb 11 relating to Wellington developer, Terry
Serepisos who had argued in the Wellington High Court that week that
liquidation
proceedings brought against him by Inland Revenue should be suspended.
The article went on to say. . . He
told the court he had arranged funding for his businesses from a source
in Switzerland. NBR has learned, however, that the funding source
itself was subject to international scrutiny following a series of
dubious deals, including some in Australia. A banker told NBR: "I
warned him. This [funder] had all the hallmarks requiring caution and
it raised serious questions. Išve been in banking for far too many
years and Išve never seen one of these overseas refinanciers come home.
And Išve seen many, many that were scams," the banker said.It is understood Mr
Serepisos has been dealing with Western Gulf Advisory, a Bahrain- and
Switzerland-based firm that made headlines in Australia last year
promising $A1 billion in loans to various developments. Next day, the paper had this to say: "A
global public relations outfit first best known for lies that helped
launch the invasion of Iraq is now representing the questionable Swiss
firm troubled Wellington property developer Terry Serepisos is trying
to borrow money from.Revelations in last
week's NBR about Mr Serepisos and Western Gulf Advisory were initially
met by silence by the property developer and the investment firm
founded by Ahsan Ali Syed. Detailed questions
were sent to WGA - concerning its relationship to Mr Serepisos,
criminal charges outstanding against Mr Ali and a string of suspect
"loans" in Australia.
It was only after NBR's print deadline that Terrence Billing of Hill and Knowlton called
suggesting further questions about WGA and Mr Ali should be directed
his way. Global PR firm Hill and Knowlton have a mixed reputation.
Does
this Terrence Billing know that New
Zealand is a democracy or what!
He is the Vice President of
this
company based in the US. The article must have ruffled Ali's feathers
badly. Wikifrauds feels that this is rather a clumsy attempt at heavy
pressure on the free press. Just shows what other people's money can
buy for Ali.
It is our opinion that the continued relationship with Ali Syed and WGA
is tantamount to collusion with a criminal enterprise. As soon as Ali
is prosecuted, and he will be for sure, all current associates who have
continued their relationship in the face of all the overwhelming
evidence of this Ponzi Scheme, will also be charged. In the USA, such
associations will fall under US RICO laws (Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act)
and are likely to be severely punsihed. And having been specifically
warned about this association, H & K will not be able to say that
they "had no idea".
Further, as the human pain inflicted on so many individuals who have
lost their whole life's savings and family homes, is so great as to
make life intolerable, who would be jointly responsible should some
poor individual take his life. People who become so distressed about
such matters sometimes do this. We certainly pray that nothing like
this happens. But if it did, then the Americans have another criminal
charge up their sleeves called "Depraved Indifference". Alongside a
RICO charge, this would present a real problem for anyone continuing to
support Ali Syed and WGA.
Dan Bartlett, CEO
Terrence Billing, VP at Hills and Knowlton.
Warned about WGA
Lots of rah rah rah
from this
bully.