Minister seeks to play down growing accusations of Tory sleaze
April 27, 2021, 10:18 am

Minister seeks to play down growing accusations of Tory sleaze

Thérèse Coffey said the funding of the refurbishment of the prime minister’s flat would be ‘tidied up’ in annual accounts.

Thérèse Coffey says public does not care about makeover of Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat

Soon-to-be-published annual accounts will “tidy up” the controversy over the funding of the refurbishment of the prime minister’s Downing Street flat, according to a government minister.

In an interview with Sky News, the work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, sought to play down growing accusations of sleaze, and claimed the public did not care about the makeover of the apartment after the prime minister said he would foot the £58,000 bill himself.

She suggested that if any initial donations for the work had been made they would be declared later.

Coffey said: “I think it’s important that prime minister will make the declarations in the usual way. These sorts of things often get tidied up in something called the annual accounts, which get published by departments every year.”

She added: “The right declarations will be made. The prime minister paid for it personally and in the meantime he’s out leading the government in trying to get back on the road roadmap to recovery and I think we’re making good progress on that.”

Coffey claimed the public was more concerned with the vaccine rollout. She said: “We’re trying to make sure that we get through in tackling the virus and get people back into work, I don’t think the majority of the public anyway is interested about some wallpaper or sofas or something like that.”

She added: “We have a real level of transparency within government.”

By acknowledging that declarations may have to be made, Coffey went further than cabinet colleagues over the weekend who would say only that the prime minister would pay for the work while refusing to discuss any earlier alleged payments by other sources.

Coffey also said she believed Johnson when he denied saying “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” during discussions about an England-wide lockdown late last year.

She said: “The prime minister says he didn’t say them, so, I take the prime minister on his word. I’m not aware that any politician has said anything like that.”

Hannah White, the deputy director of the Institute for Government and former head of the committee on standards in public life, said MPs had a duty to declare any loans within a month under the MPs code of conduct.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said: “I have to say that the prime minister has a bit of a record on being late on these things. There was a report done by the standards committee in the House of Commons, which detailed 10 instances where he’d been late in declaring financial interests as required under the code of conduct. So it’s fair to say it’s possibly not something that he has a history of giving great priority to.”

Coffey also turned on Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings who claimed in a blogpost on Friday that “plans to have donors secretly pay for the renovation were unethical, foolish, possibly illegal and almost certainly broke the rules”.

Coffey said: “A lot of people will have seen Dominic Cummings for the first time ever last year when he gave a press conference in the Rose Garden at No 10. They’ll have come to their own views.”

The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, has said Johnson’s alleged remarks about letting “bodies pile high” were “crass” and “wrong”.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “It’s so upsetting. There is more sources telling the most senior journalists in the country that he did say it.

“There will be so many viewers who have lost a loved one, perhaps lost a mum, or a grandma, a dad, a grandfather, who never got the opportunity to say goodbye properly – probably didn’t have a decent funeral.

“The remarks are sickening, they are disgusting, they are crass, they are wrong.”

The cabinet secretary, Simon Case, said on Monday that the prime minister has asked him to review how the refurbishment to the Downing Street flat was funded.

source: Matthew Weaver

Levant

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the company’s headquarters in the Seef District.
During the meeting, shareholders approved all items listed on the agenda, including the ratification of the minutes of the previous AGM held on 26 March 2024. The session reviewed and approved the Board’s Annual Report on the company’s activities and financial performance for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2024, and the shareholders expressed their satisfaction with the company’s operational and financial results during the reporting period.
The meeting also reviewed the Independent External Auditor’s Report on the company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. Subsequently, the shareholders approved the audited financial statements for the fiscal year. Based on the Board’s recommendation, the shareholders approved the distribution of a cash dividend equivalent to 10% of the paid-up share capital.
Furthermore, the shareholders endorsed the allocation of a total amount of BD 172,500 as remuneration to the members of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2024, subject to prior clearance by related authorities.
The extension of the current composition of the Board was approved, which includes ten members and one CBB observer, for a further six-month term, expiring in September 2025, pending no objection from the CBB.
The meeting reviewed and approved the Corporate Governance Report for 2024, which affirmed the company’s full compliance with the corporate governance directives issued by the CBB and other applicable regulatory frameworks. The AGM absolved the Board Members of liability for any of their actions during the year ending on 31st December 2024, in accordance with the Commercial Companies Law.
In alignment with regulatory requirements, the session approved the reappointment of Ernst & Young (EY) as the company’s External Auditors for the fiscal year 2025, covering both the parent company and its subsidiaries—Sinnad and Bahrain FinTech Bay. The Board was authorised to determine the external auditors’ professional fees, subject to approval from the CBB, and the meeting concluded with a discussion of any additional issues as per Article (207) of the Commercial Companies Law.
Speaking on the company’s performance, Mr. Mohamed Al Bastaki, Chairman BENEFIT , stated: “In terms of the financial results for 2024, I am pleased to say that the year gone by has also been proved to be a success in delivering tangible results. Growth rate for 2024 was 19 per cent. Revenue for the year was BD 17 M (US$ 45.3 Million) and net profit was 2 Million ($ 5.3 Million).

Mr. Al Bastaki also announced that the Board had formally adopted a new three-year strategic roadmap to commence in 2025. The strategy encompasses a phased international expansion, optimisation of internal operations, enhanced revenue diversification, long-term sustainability initiatives, and the advancement of innovation and digital transformation initiatives across all service lines.
“I extend my sincere appreciation to the CBB for its continued support of BENEFIT and its pivotal role in fostering a stable and progressive regulatory environment for the Kingdom’s banking and financial sector—an environment that has significantly reinforced Bahrain’s standing as a leading financial hub in the region,” said Mr. Al Bastaki. “I would also like to thank our partner banks and valued customers for their trust, and our shareholders for their ongoing encouragement. The achievements of 2024 set a strong precedent, and I am confident they will serve as a foundation for yet another successful and impactful year ahead.”
Chief Executive of BENEFIT; Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi commented, “The year 2024 represented another pivotal chapter in BENEFIT ’s evolution. We achieved substantial progress in advancing our digital strategy across multiple sectors, while reinforcing our long-term commitment to the development of Bahrain’s financial services and payments landscape. Throughout the year, we remained firmly aligned with our objective of delivering measurable value to our shareholders, strategic partners, and customers. At the same time, we continued to play an active role in enabling Bahrain’s digital economy by introducing innovative solutions and service enhancements that directly address market needs and future opportunities.”
Mr. AlJanahi affirmed that BENEFIT has successfully developed a robust and well-integrated payment network that connects individuals and businesses across Bahrain, accelerating the adoption of emerging technologies in the banking and financial services sector and reinforcing Bahrain’s position as a growing fintech hub, and added, “Our achievements of the past year reflect a long-term vision to establish a resilient electronic payment infrastructure that supports the Kingdom’s digital economy. Key developments in 2024 included the implementation of central authentication for open banking via BENEFIT Pay”
Mr. AlJanahi concluded by thanking the Board for its strategic direction, the company’s staff for their continued dedication, and the Central Bank of Bahrain, member banks, and shareholders for their valuable partnership and confidence in the company’s long-term vision.