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Fraudster paid government to help promote fake bomb detectors
The government accepted thousands of pounds from a fraudster to assist a global trade in fake bomb detectors despite a Whitehall-wide warning that such devices were "no better than guessing" and could be deadly.
The Kent businessman Gary Bolton paid the government to enlist serving soldiers and a British ambassador in what turned out to be the fraudulent sale of bomb detectors based on novelty golf ball finders. Bolton, 48, was sentenced to seven years in jail last year for fraud after claims that use of his handheld devices cost lives and resulted in wrongful convictions.
The ability of UK firms to hire top diplomats to arrange introductions for as little as £250 a time, and serving soldiers to act as salesmen for £109 a day plus VAT, without checks on the authenticity of products, is revealed in Whitehall documents about Bolton's dealings with the UK government released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.
The government accepted more than £5,000 in payments from the fraudster to supply uniformed Royal Engineers to promote the bogus kit at international trade fairs in the Middle East and Europe, and to secure the backing of Giles Paxman, the brother of the BBC presenter Jeremy Paxman and then UK ambassador to Mexico, who set up sales meetings for Bolton's firm with senior Mexican officials engaged in the country's bloody drugs war.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/26/fraudster-paid-government-promote-fake-bomb-detectors
The Kent businessman Gary Bolton paid the government to enlist serving soldiers and a British ambassador in what turned out to be the fraudulent sale of bomb detectors based on novelty golf ball finders. Bolton, 48, was sentenced to seven years in jail last year for fraud after claims that use of his handheld devices cost lives and resulted in wrongful convictions.
The ability of UK firms to hire top diplomats to arrange introductions for as little as £250 a time, and serving soldiers to act as salesmen for £109 a day plus VAT, without checks on the authenticity of products, is revealed in Whitehall documents about Bolton's dealings with the UK government released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.
The government accepted more than £5,000 in payments from the fraudster to supply uniformed Royal Engineers to promote the bogus kit at international trade fairs in the Middle East and Europe, and to secure the backing of Giles Paxman, the brother of the BBC presenter Jeremy Paxman and then UK ambassador to Mexico, who set up sales meetings for Bolton's firm with senior Mexican officials engaged in the country's bloody drugs war.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jan/26/fraudster-paid-government-promote-fake-bomb-detectors
Promoted by the government 13 times from 2003 to 2009; a government scientist warned it was ineffective in 2001, and the results circulated to 1,000 officials: "Although the idea of security forces forking out thousands of pounds for a useless lump of plastic seems incredible or even funny, a surprising number of people have been taken in. If they are relying on such devices to detect terrorist bombs, the implications are deadly serious."