Displaying items by tag: investigation

Rishi Sunak is being investigated by Parliament’s standards watchdog over a possible failure to declare an interest and if a declaration he made was ‘open and frank’. His wife Akshata holds shares in Koru Kids childcare agency, which could benefit from a new policy unveiled in the spring Budget. It is a pilot of payments for childminders, with more for those who sign up through agencies. Akshata was listed as a shareholder in Koru Kids as recently as 6 March. On 28 March Mr Sunak did not mention her links to Koru Kids when he was questioned over the childcare policy at a parliamentary hearing. When he was asked whether he had any interest to declare, he replied, ‘No, all my disclosures are declared in the normal way’. After the hearing, Mr Sunak sent a letter to the committee saying an updated statement of ministers' interests would be released shortly.

The FBI search warrant of former president Donald Trump's Florida home authorised confiscation of every record he ever saw, read or created during his four years as commander-in-chief, right down to scribbles on a napkin. Democrats are asking for a damage assessment from the intelligence community on the eleven sets of classified documents recovered in the raid, including one marked ‘SCI’, a classification for some of the most sensitive national security information that is normally viewed in a highly secured location. A Trump lawyer signed a statement in June saying ‘all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had been turned over to federal investigators’. On 14 August Trump’s lawyer claimed all investigations into ‘him will be dropped if he says he won’t run to be elected president in 2024. Later Trump’s office released a new defence statement: ‘As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different.'

The police are investigating 600 cases of maternity care in a probe of hospital failings pointing to hundreds of baby deaths. Sajid Javid revealed the scope of the police inquiry during a Commons statement on Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust on 30 March. Mistakes at its hospitals led to babies being stillborn, dying after birth, or being left badly brain damaged. West Mercia police are investigating whether there was evidence to support a criminal case against the trust or any individuals involved. They have been talking to medical experts and prosecutors. The inquiry remains active, but no arrests have been made. The review, led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden, examined 1,600 incidents amid parents' fears over safety spanning the years 2000 to 2019, and concluded that catastrophic failures and repeated mistakes may have led to the deaths of nine mothers and 200+ babies and left other infants with major injuries.

The congressional committee investigating the attack on Capitol Hill said in a court filing, ‘Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts. The select committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his campaign engaged in criminal conspiracy to defraud the USA.’ If John Eastman is proven to have worked unethically for Mr Trump his legal licence may be suspended, and it increases political pressure on the Attorney General to charge Trump.

The Charity Commission is to review the accounts of the charity set up in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who raised almost £33m for the NHS. Accounts show the Captain Tom Foundation gave out grants of £160,000 to four charities but spent more than £162,000 in management costs in its first year. Its financial statement also showed reimbursement costs of £16,097 paid to Club Nook Limited, a company run by Hannah Ingram-Moore, Captain Tom's daughter. These costs were said to be for accommodation, security and transport relating to Captain Sir Tom ‘travelling around the UK to promote the charity’. The foundation said it welcomed the commission's input.

Dr Dermot Kearney, who is a highly skilled doctor and former president of the Catholic Medical Association, has been blocked from providing an abortion reversal treatment while an investigation takes place. Dr Kearney provided emergency abortion rescue service to women who later regretted taking the first of two abortion pills (Mifepristone) and wanted to try to save their babies. He prescribed the natural hormone progesterone which inhibits Mifepristone effects. Abortion reversal is about 68% successful if treatment starts within 72 hours. The Christian Legal Centre is supporting Dr Kearney. He is still practising in his NHS hospital but not offering the abortion reversal service. There will be a final disciplinary hearing at which all options will be open about his continuing to practise and his future. He offered the service because the Catholic Medical Association was getting many queries from women, asking for help.

The UK has joined other European countries and donated €500,000 to a human rights project investigating the Lukashenko regime in Belarus. The longtime dictator denies human rights abuses in his country despite overwhelming evidence gathered by journalists and NGOs. The project will collect, store, and build evidence of human rights violations and torture against the people which may in future be used in independent criminal proceedings. The initiative is led by a coalition of expert NGOs and supported by the UK, Denmark, Germany, and other international partners to hold Lukashenko’s regime to account for violations following the rigged Presidential election in 2020. This independent initiative, free from political interference, will help defend democracy, media freedom and human rights. It will help the Belarusian people take a vital step further towards securing justice.

There have been ‘Save the Children’ demonstrations to protest against child sex trafficking and paedophilia at home and abroad. After a two-year investigation into a Florida sex trafficking network, over 170 people have been charged. This has been part of a two-year investigation uncovering a sex-trafficking network in Florida, leading to an ‘unprecedented’ number of arrests. Among those netted were a local candidate for office, a teacher, and a former chairman of the fundraising arm of Florida State University athletics.

Ten workers at a hospital in Essex were suspended and two members of staff referred to the police amid claims that vulnerable patients with autism or learning difficulties were ‘dragged, slapped and kicked’. CCTV footage at the hospital, showing episodes of physical and emotional abuse, was passed to police after an unannounced visit by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspection unit. At the time, the ten-bed hospital held eight adult female patients, who experienced ‘abusive, disrespectful behaviour' by staff. Staff failed to use ‘appropriate restraint techniques’, became angry with residents, and dragged them across the floor. Suspended workers included some who witnessed incidents but failed to report them. Pray for greater scrutiny of safeguarding procedures in care homes; for godly principles to generate the visible and hidden wellbeing of vulnerable communities; for complaints made by residents to be investigated and acted upon if necessary; and for God’s comfort for the abused.

Madeleine McCann is ‘assumed’ to be dead, say German prosecutors investigating her disappearance in 2007. A 43-year-old German predator currently in prison for sex crimes is being investigated on suspicion of her murder. Police are appealing for the public's help in solving the case, after they announced on 3 June that they had a new suspect. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, felt the latest development was ‘potentially very significant’. Their spokesperson said, ‘Of all the thousands of leads and potential suspects that have been mentioned in the past, there has never been something as clearcut as that from not just one, but three, police forces.’ The Met are working with German and Portuguese police. They have released details of the suspect's phone number and the number which dialled him before Madeleine’s disappearance; any information about these numbers could be ‘critical’.