The Mask

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George Monbiot has been banging on about the apparent misappropriation of public money by the government since the start of the Covid crisis. He tweeted yesterday morning about the publication of the National Audit Office's Report into their investigation of just that. So I downloaded the documents to cast an eye over them. Admittedly, the document available is a tad thin, but one quoted example stands out for me: Case Study 3 [Part Three, page 35 of the study]; Ayanda Capital Ltd.

They were awarded without competitive tender, a contract for £252.5 million on the 29th of April this year. The Daily Telegraph voiced disquiet over this in their issue of the 6th of July. Ayanda Capital Ltd., which they [the Telegraph] describe as '...Investor Tim [Timothy Piers Horlick] Horlick's...small family investment firm with no known history in the industry...', actually has only two company officers: Horlick and one Nathan Philip Engelbrecht, whose directorial portfolio is catholic, to say the least; including motion picture and TV [the precise services offered, in the usual Companies House manner unspecified]; public houses and bars; IT & management consultancy, etc. etc. The thing that piques my interest though is one other business activity that these two have in common: cryptocurrency. They have both been directors of several, now dissolved limited companies; Blockchain Group Ltd., Blockchain Holdings Ltd., Bitcoin Global Capital Ltd., Blockefeller Group Ltd. and Blockefeller Advisors Ltd. They might have been dead end companies, but it's interesting to reflect on, nevertheless.

As to the financial scale of the company's activities prior to the award of the contract for £252.5m; Ayanda's balance sheet of the 31st. of December 2019 shows total assets of £2.9m and cash at bank of £1.4m - hardly big league stuff in today's terms and considering their fixed assets of just £44,509; bricks and mortar can't possibly figure greatly. So it would seem like a fairly modest little company whose principals seem to have dipped their feet into quite a few ponds and not always with great success.

I offer this merely as comment on publicly available data from Government agencies: Companies House filings and the current NAO Report. A shout out to George Monbiot for sticking at it: check out his Guardian stuff and Double Down News. Also, plaudits to the Telegraph, too often derided as the house paper of the Establishment: they've busted quite a few establishment scandals in the past and are not afraid to call out the Tories if they're found wanting. Let's hope some of this ordure sticks to the right people and some heads roll. As usual; not holding my breath. 

Postscript: Ayanda's website is now quacking loudly, dismissing comments made variously at PMQ's by Keir Starmer, The Times and the NAO report itself. We'll see...

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