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Simpson: 'not wanting charity's money to go into someone's back pocket' Bayliss: arrested by Fraud Squad

BAYLISSGATE
(when General Secretaries turn bad)
The investigation into suspended Assistant General Secretary Les Bayliss lasted a mere 3 weeks. From the matey tone of General Secretary Simpson's memo suspending him, we predicted that "unlike Lucy Kelly's, it may be short and 'sweet'" . However the true nature of this cynical whitewash has only just become apparent; amicus.cc have obtained 5 extremely confidential union documents:
The first, a letter from the CEO of the respectable charity 'Express-Link-up' (patron Carol Vorderman), outlines the scam: Amicus' own charity "in the form of Les Bayliss" donated £1/4 million over 3 years to 'Express-Link-Up'. Before it was handed over, a friend, business associate and one time employer of Bayliss demanded a 10% £24,000 "finder's fee" from Express Link Up. That friend is not a union employee and we have identified him only as 'Mr X' in the documents. Furthermore Express Link Up's CEO says Bayliss then told her she couldn't show this 'fee' in the budget the charity had prepared. Mr X went on to demand a further 10% of a one million pound donation to be obtained from government funds. Although clearly aware this was going on, Bayliss denies that he personally pocketed from any of this 'creaming off', we have no evidence of it, we don't say he did and of course it would be impossible to prove. His friend and business associate Mr X pocketed the first year's 10% - £8,000, before Express Link Up blew the whistle.

The union's own charity, under Les Bayliss, was handing out £1/4 million every year of members money. It went evenly to just three charities, Express Link Up, Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and VSO. Although we have seen no evidence of 10% being creamed off by Bayliss's friend from the FFI and VSO donations, we do know that Simpson and Bayliss travelled to South Africa to look at some flowers on a trip paid for by FFI, a charity that has very large admin costs (only 79% of their income gets spent on conservation). We also know that Mr X's own company ('Company A' where Mr X and Les Bayliss first met Express Link Up's CEO) are a partner of FFI in a project to vaccinate 40,000 domestic dogs in Africa. Small World.

This scandal is dynamite and indicates that if the union was corrupt under the Jackson leadership, it hasn't changed. As in all such scandals the real disgrace is not so much the crime, it is the determined cover-up. The second document is the confidential record of a meeting between the union's Senior Lawyer Georgina Hirsch and Bayliss. In this Bayliss admits that he had previously been arrested by the Fraud Squad and was under investigation by them for 2 years on another matter, an alleged Land Fill Tax scam with the same friend, Mr X. Bayliss reveals that he has now been cleared and that no action is going to be taken, although he says Mr X 'may be prosecuted'. He also mentions he still has "one project ongoing with his company but ... it is legitimate" . This second document was buried in the union's "Internal Issues folder" in June 2003, over two years ago.

The third document is dated 17th June 2003 and is from General Secretary Simpson to the CEO of the offended charity. Simpson writes

"Until your letter, I knew nothing of [Mr X] and certainly would not have wanted any of the charity's money to go undeservedly into the back pocket of an individual, as appeared to be the possible implication of your letter."
Simpson concludes: "you may be interested to know that Mr Bayliss has decided not to hold a position as a trustee of our [union] charity".
The fourth document is a record of a call from the CEO of Express Link Up to Georgina Hirsch. In it the CEO clearly states that Mr X had not done any work for her, he had just taken his 10%.

So presumably Bayliss would be sacked, disciplined, demoted or at least be the subject of an open investigation back in 2003. But no, back then General Secretary Simpson writes a matey and secret letter to him about a matey and secret meeting they had (document number 5): Bayliss assures Simpson that he had not financially gained from his link with Mr X "in any way whatsoever". Simpson assures Bayliss "I believe you have learned from this experience that you should not agree to enter into any such private arrangements in future which might end up being portrayed or perceived in this way".

"You realise that not only is your future with the union at stake, but the reputation of the Union, and in particular my reputation as General Secretary of the Union (and as someone who has promoted you and relies heavily on you), are at stake."
In this fifth document Simpson pre-justifies the 2003 cover up:
"You are aware that I prefer to keep this matter confidential between you, Robert Gomez, Georgina Hirsch and myself because I believe that it could be misconstrued and deliberately misused by others. We are both aware of individuals within the union who have already taken steps to spread and publicise false information"
(Probably a reference to the Rightwing that time, not amicus.cc .)
Simpson, Hirsch, Gomez and Bayliss managed to keep all this secret for 2 years, until finally forced to carry out this year's 'investigation' (actually a 're-investigation', unbeknown to members). We understand this second 'sham' investigation was prompted by a member's complaint based on the secret documents we have obtained. Simpson's memo announcing the return of Bayliss makes no mention at all of the scandal or the 2003 investigation, it is short and sweet:

"I am happy to announce that there is no evidence whatsoever of any impropriety and [Les] is duly exonerated"

We put the following allegations to the union three days ago:
General Secretary Derek Simpson
a) That he misled in a memo dated 14th July 2005 when he said "there is no evidence whatsoever of any impropriety".
b) That he cynically arranged a second investigation knowing he had already cleared Mr Bayliss on the same charges in 2003.
c) That he arranged two 'whitewash' investigations, one entirely in secret, and one with just the allegations, evidence and findings in secret.


Assistant General Secretary Les Bayliss
a) That he allowed or arranged for a close friend and business associate to cream off 10% of union donations he was involved in making of between £80,000 and £250,000 a year.


Deputy General Secretaries Ed Sweeney and Tony Dubbins
a) That they knowingly carried out a 'whitewash' investigation OR
b) that they failed to carry out a proper investigation through lack of diligence or through incompetence.

The union have chosen not to respond.

Now Bayliss has been promoted to handle Simpson's pet project, the 'super union' mergers with TGWU and GMB. This website campaigned for Simpson's election, we wanted an open, honest and corruption free union. So it's sad to report that we now believe Simpson should resign. How gullible does he believe amicus members and our NEC representatives are? How can he plead financial crisis when he knew this was going on two years ago?.
[1 Express Link Up] The letter that started it all
[2 union internal file] Interview with Bayliss
[3 Derek Simpson] Letter to Express Link Up
[4 union internal file] Conversation with Pat Ryan
[5 Derek Simpson] 'Dear Les'
[Derek Simpson] Memo 'no evidence whatsoever..'
Posted by www.rogerlyons.com on 25th August 2005