The post about Anthea Turner’s Sister and husband with the Aviation deal reminds me of Philip Middlemiss who played Des Barnes in Coronation Street. He is wanted for questioning by police in Ghana for a bribery scandal involving the sale of military planes. How on earth do these people get involved in this stuff?!
It’s not often I’m speechless on here but
how in the name of god did Des Barnes end up claiming to be a project manager for Airbus in Ghana?
(Ironically, Des Barnes died at the hand of ‘evil’ Jez Quigley in Coronation Street. Some of my friends grew up in Stockport and say that Lee Boardman, the actor who played him, is as nice a bloke as you will ever meet.)
Extract from story in the Metro:
“[the Ghanaian public prosecutor] issued a public notice, stating they ‘are hereby invited to assist the on-going investigation of bribery and corruption’. This investigation also includes allegations of ‘collaborating with Ghanaian public officers to use their public office for private profit or benefit in the purchase of three C-295 aircrafts by the Government of Ghana from Airbus’. Airbus recently agreed to pay a £3billion fine in January after a joint investigation from UK, US and French authorities into the using middlemen to sell planes.
and
“According the publication, he then [after moving to Ghana to shoot a film, which was then cancelled] worked as a ‘travel consultant’, while claiming in an interview that his best friend’s brother was vice president of the country.”
WTF is a ‘travel consultant‘? Unless it’s that Travel Counsellors not-quite pyramid scheme where anyone can set themselves up as a kind of travel agent provided that they pay fees to the umbrella organisation.
There are some weird parallels between Middlemiss and Webster, eh? Out of work C list TV actor attempts to make a film, the film fails, then he is recruited by ‘business partners’ to front an aviation deal involving a West African country? Webster should be pleased he got out of his so-called deal without ending up in a Ghanaian prison.
I suppose that both men were flattered to be, as they saw it, chosen to be involved in what they saw as a high level business deal - finally, somebody has seen their true qualities and understands that they are not just a soap actor but a talented business Titan! - and were too dim to ask questions. Like, why me?
Here is an extract from a DM article, where Webster whines about his plight:
“I worked as an official consultant on this deal for three years, until 2016,' says Gary.
'My business partners had brokered two previous deals. They got me involved, introduced me to some of the most senior figures in government in Africa. I stood to make £1.4 million from that deal”
What’s the betting that the ‘global aviation company’ Webster got involved with, or believed he was involved with, was Airbus?
Seriously, how stupid and vain are these people? Why would any reputable business choose an out of work actor with no business experience or qualifications to negotiate deals with senior government figures in a foreign country?
