Ban asbestos giant from government contracts, MPs and peers say
A construction company whose asbestos products were used in schools, hospitals, public buildings and offices should be banned from government contracts, MPs and peers have said.
Altrad — which bought Cape, one of Britain's biggest manufacturers of asbestos products, in 2017 — should be excluded from all public sector work unless it donates £10 million towards research into the cancers caused by the building material, a report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on occupational safety and health found.
Asbestos is Britain's biggest workplace killer, responsible for 5,000 deaths a year. It causes asbestosis and mesothelioma cancer, both incurable.
Earlier this year, a public hearing heard evidence from 11 witnesses of the 'disastrous legacy' of Cape. On Tuesday the APPG will publish a report on Cape describing its 'corporate denial, suppression of vital health information, and a refusal to accept responsibility' and recommending a government ban on awarding contracts to Altrad, which made £4.5 billion in revenue last year.
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The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Landlords threaten to walk away from 5G connectivity scheme
Private and public landowners warn they have already lost out on around £200 million each year following significant changes made in 2017. Changes to the Electronic Communications Code meant telecoms firms were no longer required to pay market rent to landlords, with some landowners witnessing a 90% reduction in annual fees. It affects landowners including farmers, but also affects councils, charities and small businesses. In some cases rents originally agreed at around £5,500 per year fell to £3.50 per year, with landowners also stating they feel trapped in the agreement. The UK Government is consulting on changes to the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Act that could see landowners refuse to allow the equipment on their property and therefore slowing down key connectivity targets. Russell Glendinning, managing director of Cell:cm Chartered Surveyors, a firm representing landowners of telecommunications infrastructure , said the implications would be "chilling". Read more: Mr Glendinning told The Herald on Sunday: "Scotland's digital rollout is being undermined by a failed UK-wide legal framework. "Changes to the 2017 Electronic Communications Code has significantly strained the relationship between landowners and mobile operators. "Many site providers have been drawn into lengthy and complex disputes in an attempt to protect operational requirements at their property against operators' technical and operational needs, often coupled with steeply reduced rents - and in some cases, site owners have even been ordered to repay substantial sums. "This has created a chilling effect on the willingness of both private and public landowners to host infrastructure." Landowners have urged the UK Government to rethink the legislation and listen to industry voices. Read more: The National Farming Union (NFU) and the British Property Federation (BPF) has since written to the government, warning that if action is not taken, landowners will walk away and 5G ambitions will be missed, while Scotland's 'fragile' connectivity will deteriorate further. Underserved parts of Scotland, like the Highlands and Islands and Argyll and Bute are particularly at risk. However, official statistics also revealed that Glasgow is now amongst the UK's worst five cities for fibre coverage. While the city is Scotland's largest urban hub, just 57.8% of premises have access to full fibre broadband. The ongoing row between landowners and telecoms firms has also stalled the UK rollout of 5G, with the UK now ranked 30th out of 39 countries for availability. Legal disputes have also skyrocketed since the 2017 changes, reaching 1,000 compared to just 33 tribunal cases between 1984 and 2017. Landowners can challenge the rent cost once the lease comes up for renewal, however the tribunal stage can be costly and off putting. Mr Glendinning added: 'Understandably, many now view the process as high-risk and low-reward, which has led to real difficulties in securing new sites. That, in turn, has had a catastrophic impact on mobile connectivity – particularly in rural areas and increasingly in urban settings too. 'The PSTI Act doubles down on this framework and there is a serious risk that the dysfunction we've already seen will only escalate. 'In cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh, where the pressures on property and infrastructure are already more acute, the burden placed on landlord is often far greater – and without meaningful reform, it's hard to see how the necessary collaboration can be restored.' A DSIT spokesperson said: 'Our priority is to continue delivering high quality 5G networks across the UK, which is critical to boosting growth and improving public services for the British people.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
France implements smoking ban at beaches and parks in step towards ‘tobacco-free generation'
Anyone who lights up on a beach or in a public park in France will be breaking the law from Sunday under new rules aimed at protecting children from the dangers of passive smoking. Bus shelters and areas in the immediate vicinity of libraries, swimming pools and schools will also be affected by the ban, which is coming into force one day after its publication in the official government gazette on Saturday. The rule is being imposed one week before the beginning of the school holidays in France in a bid to immediately protect children from smoke on the beach. However, to the disappointment of some anti-tobacco activists, the ban does not cover the terraces of bars and restaurants where many French still happily smoke. They are also unhappy that the ban does not apply to electronic cigarettes. The rules had initially been expected to come into force on Tuesday after a previous announcement by the health ministry but the publication in the official gazette means this has now been brought forward to Sunday. People should also not smoke within 10 metres of schools, swimming pools, libraries and other places where smoking could hurt minors. The health ministry said it would soon reveal the sign used to designate such areas. Violators of the ban could face a fine of 135 euros ($160) up to a maximum of 700 euros. 'Tobacco must disappear from places where there are children. A park, a beach, a school – these are places to play, learn, and breathe. Not for smoking,' health and family minister Catherine Vautrin said. This is another step 'towards a tobacco-free generation', she added, which France is targeting from 2032. Yves Martinet, president of the National Committee Against Smoking (CNCT), said the ban was 'a step in the right direction, but remains insufficient', criticising the continued permission to smoke on cafe terraces. 'The minister points to the protection of children,' but children 'also go to the terraces', said Martinet, who is a pulmonologist. He lamented the absence of e-cigarettes from the text, saying flavours are used to 'hook young people'. But Frank Delvau, president of the Union of Hotel Trades and Industries (UMIH) for the Paris region, said a ban on smoking on cafe terraces 'would only shift the problem because people on terraces would go smoke next to these establishments'. Franck Trouet, of the hospitality association Hotels and Restaurants of France (GHR), said 'smokers and non-smokers can coexist' on terraces, the 'last places of conviviality and freedom'. In France, passive exposure to tobacco smoke causes 3,000 to 5,000 deaths per year, according to official figures. Smoking is steadily declining in France with 'the lowest prevalence ever recorded since 2000', according to France addiction agency the OFDT. Less than a quarter of adults aged 18 to 75 reported smoking daily in 2023, according to the agency. Smoking causes 75,000 deaths per year in France and, again according to the OFDT, costs society 156bn euros annually, counting factors including lost lives, quality of life, productivity, prevention, law enforcement and healthcare. According to a recent opinion survey, 62% of French people favour a smoking ban in public places.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘He left us with nothing': the British investors swindled by a German property firm
'He took everything, left us with absolutely nothing,' says David Middleton, one of thousands of British and Irish investors who racked up huge losses from the collapse of a German property ponzi scheme. The 72-year-old pensioner from Northern Ireland is referring to Charles Smethurst, the German-British businessman who set up Dolphin Capital in 2008, later renamed Dolphin Trust, then German Property Group (GPG), with 200 affiliated companies. In July 2020, the business filed for insolvency, owing more than €1bn to up to 25,000 investors around the world. Smethurst was convicted this month of 'serious fraud' and sentenced to six years and 11 months in prison by a regional court in Hildesheim, in northern Germany. As part of a plea bargain, he admitted to four of 27 counts of commercial fraud, filed against him by the Hanover public prosecutor's office last October, for total damages of €56m. The other charges were dropped in return for his confession to speed up the trial, which was due to run into August. Dolphin's glossy brochures promised readers double-digit returns for investing their money in a scheme that pledged to restore historic buildings across Germany – including the ruins of castle Dwasieden on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen – and turn them into luxury apartments. However, few were ever restored. Investors were mainly from the UK, Ireland, France, Singapore and South Korea and included financial institutions and individuals, many of whom lost their pension pots or other savings after regular interest payments dried up in 2019. Smethurst's fraud conviction related to €60m in investments made by the French fund manager Horizon AM, including €30m in the Pariser Strasse project in Berlin. The court heard that the building was never bought, but the funds were used by Smethurst's company to meet other obligations. He served a prison sentence for fraud between 2000 and 2003 in an unrelated case. Horizon said it was 'led to believe we were partnering with an experienced and reputable real estate developer' as Dolphin provided the firm with 'highly detailed due diligence documents' and sent regular reports wrongly suggesting projects were 'progressing as planned'. The investor was not aware of Smethurst's previous fraud conviction. 'According to findings from the insolvency administrator and the criminal investigation, a significant portion of the funds was diverted abroad to jurisdictions with strict banking secrecy, notably the British Virgin Islands and possibly the Cayman Islands,' Horizon said. 'These jurisdictions do not cooperate with European authorities, which means that the money trail goes cold. This illustrates the systemic failure of cross-border cooperation in cases of fraud, and why victims like us are left without meaningful recourse. 'We are still wondering where the money went, what remains, and whether it is still possible to recover anything to compensate Horizon and its investors.' UK individual investors told the Guardian they are angry, and fear that Smethurst will be released early for good conduct and recover the hidden funds for himself. Middleton and his wife, Janet, invested in Dolphin in 2015: his pension lump sum of £100,000 and her inheritance of £120,000. Their financial adviser, the late Alastair Hooks, told them it was low-risk and supported by the German government, Janet Middleton recalls. 'To be honest, I was nervous about it and strongly stated that as pensioners we could not afford to lose this amount of money, but again we were assured there was no risk.' After Dolphin filed for insolvency, Hooks did not return their calls, and the couple discovered he had unregistered from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2012. She says they have explored every avenue – even as they dealt with David being diagnosed with bowel cancer – but have not recovered any of their investment. Janet says Smethurst's sentence 'seems very lenient to me … Smethurst may well serve his sentence and even get early release for good behaviour while other people like David and I now serve a sentence in our retirement economically'. A former NHS nurse, she says the couple had been looking forward to a comfortable retirement but have had to budget their outgoings; they have not had a holiday in years and both drive 20-year-old cars. The Hildesheim court said it did not order Smethurst to make any payments to investors because it could not establish that he had personally siphoned off any funds. Justus von Buchwaldt, of the law firm BBL, the insolvency administrator who testified in June, subsequently said: 'I fear that this is only the tip of the iceberg. It is still unclear if other people were involved in this large-scale fraud and where most of the investments ended up.' Of an estimated €1.3bn of investments received by the property company, about €800m is missing. The Hanover prosecutor's office said it had investigated other company officials but could not find evidence of any wrongdoing. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion It is one of Germany's biggest investment scandals since the second world war, and the German authorities have been criticised for being slow to intervene, even though the property company stopped filing financial accounts in 2015. Alison Moncrieff-Kelly, 63, a freelance musician from Kent and former director of the Rye arts festival, was a Dolphin investor. She said: 'This seems a pathetically small price for Smethurst to pay for such heinous and convoluted levels of crime. Where's the money gone is the big question … and six years 11 months doesn't touch the sides.' Most of the listed buildings acquired by GPG were never redeveloped and left derelict. Von Buchwaldt at BBL has sold 20 of 75 properties so far, for more than €87m, and has yet to distribute the proceeds to investors. Those sold include castle Dwasieden, a listed former brewery in Bad Aibling in Bavaria and a period villa in Fürstenberg/Havel in Brandenburg. The property sales are expected to take years as the legal situation is often complex. Almost 8,000 creditors have filed claims with BBL against the collapsed property group, out of an estimated 15,000 to 25,000 investors globally. Von Buchwaldt has said BBL would work with the UK's FCA, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Debbie Kay Randles, 67, invested £25,000 in Dolphin in 2015 and, like others, has also lost money in other investment schemes. She paid £6,000 to a financial claims company in an attempt to recover her Dolphin investment, but 'they just disappeared'. She even enlisted a private detective to track down the claims firm. 'It's just been an absolute ongoing nightmare,' she says. 'I've not got a lot left, so I'll just keep working, probably until I'm 75, and then retire.' A former TSB employee, she now works for a window blinds business and lives in York. Moncrieff-Kelly says the trial 'doesn't address this issue of how incredibly badly regulated financial affairs are in the UK … I don't know if it's happening so much in any other country in the world.' She points to the 'middlemen' – financial advisers who are typically paid commission of 20% to 30% and 'kept that money' despite 'selling a fraud'. She invested in Dolphin after her financial adviser suggested it. Moncrieff-Kelly has recovered about half her £80,000 investment – money she inherited from her late mother – from the FSCS, with the help of a claims company that took the other half as payment. The FSCS says it has paid compensation to more than 1,900 customers in relation to Dolphin/GPG investment products, and a further 150 people have open claims. Compensation may have been triggered in relation to unsuitable financial advice that customers were given. It says it cannot put a figure on the compensation paid because it includes payouts for other investment losses. The SFO declined to comment while the FCA said it could not comment on individual firms. 'People don't understand the trauma and the damage that [fraud] has done,' says David Middleton. 'People think [with] white collar crime, slick City crime, there's no victim. There is a victim.'
