SAOIRSE32

Newshound

(Irish News)

Police have uncovered evidence that UDA brigadier Andre Shoukri, spent nearly £1 million in less than two years, despite having no visible signs of income.

In November last year Shoukri (28) was charged with blackmail, intimidation and money laundering. The charges relate to a six-month police investigation into UDA racketeering in north Belfast.

Part of the investigation relates to the intimidation of a bar manageress.

It is understood Shoukri and senior loyalist William ‘Bonzer’ Borland (36) were secretly recorded attempting to extort money from an employee of Bonaparte’s Bar, known as witness ‘A’.

Borland is separately charged with intimidating a second person – known as witness ‘B’ – and demanding the keys, books and cheque books to the north Belfast bar, as well as possession of a firearm, or imitation firearm, with intent. Both people are in police protection in England and will be the chief prosecution witnesses at any trial.

The bar is just yards from the site of a former pizza parlour where Shoukri and Borland were secretly filmed by police in June 2000 attempting to extort £3,000 from its owner Mel Lundy.

Borland, Andre Shoukri, his brother Ihab Shoukri and Gary McKenzie (33) were jailed for the attempted extortion.

The Lundy family were forced to leave Northern Ireland after police warned them their lives were in danger from the UDA.

However, it is understood police now have evidence that around £800,000 passed through Shoukri’s hands in the two-year period since he was released from jail in November 2003 where he was serving a sentence for possession of a firearm.

It is understood police have uncovered documentary evidence from the ledgers of at least four bookmakers in north Belfast which shows that Shoukri gambled the money, despite being unemployed. The bookmakers’ ledgers are said to show that Shoukri put £5,000 and £10,000 bets on individual horse races.

Detectives are also understood to have evidence that Shoukri falsified a mortgage application to pay £120,000 for a house at Clare Glen in the Ballysillan area of north Belfast. The case against Shoukri is also understood to show that he took nearly a dozen foreign holidays in the same period and bought a host of high-performance sports cars.

This is despite the fact that when Shoukri was stopped while driving in October 2004 he was found to have no driving licence or MoT certificate and had forged insurance documents.

Shoukri could now face a potential £300,000 tax bill for living off the illegal proceeds of crime.

January 12, 2006
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This article appeared first in the January 11, 2006 edition of the Irish News.

Irish Voice

By Sean O’Driscoll

THE Irish Republican fundraising group Noraid is to undergo a major restructuring following a meeting with Sinn Fein representatives in Belfast last month.

Noraid national chairman Paul Doris has sent a letter to members calling for ideas on how best to redevelop the organization, which has suffered a decline in influence since its height in the 1970s and ‘80s and has seen the closure of its newspaper, the Irish People.

The organization is to move from fundraising for Republican prisoners to a more direct political role, reflecting Sinn Fein’s post-Troubles political aspirations.

Noraid national coordinator Gerry Coleman said that the organization would be spending its fundraising money in the U.S. and would stop sending money back to Sinn Fein in Ireland.

“There may be further Holy Cross or Short Strand attacks in the future, in which case we can spend money in the U.S. to help,” he said, referring to Catholic areas of Belfast that have been attacked by Loyalists in recent years.

Coleman said that there was no heavy pressure coming from Sinn Fein and that Noraid agreed that the organization was outmoded and needed reform.

Coleman said he, Doris and other board members discussed the future of the organization with Sinn Fein when they traveled to Belfast for Sinn Fein’s 100th anniversary celebrations in December.

“We were in a situation where we had 600 or 700 political prisoners. Now we have 15,000 ex-prisoners. If that isn’t a cause for a reassessment, I don’t know what is,” he said.

Coleman said that very little had yet been decided, but Noraid is hoping to come up with a new plan at a meeting later this month.

He said that the cancellation of the group’s annual dinner, also set for later this month, was not connected to the restructuring.

“We’ve canceled two dinners in the last 10 years. There is a feeling that we should be having something to coordinate with the 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes, so the event has been moved,” he said.

Coleman said that Noraid was always “about a year or two” behind Sinn Fein and needed to catch up to speed. He strongly rejected rumors that Noraid was to disband.

IAIS

01/12/06 12:27 EST

British Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight faced new demands to disclose his full involvement in discussions about dropping charges against the Sinn Fein administrator-turned British agent Denis Donaldson.

Ian Paisley`s Democratic Unionists challenged the Prime Minister to issue an explanation after Britain’s Solicitor General revealed he was consulted a year ago on a case which provoked uproar in Belfast.

Mr Blair and cabinet colleagues held talks in January 2005 about the charges against three men accused of a spy ring that toppled the Stormont power-sharing regime, MPs were told.

The suspects included Denis Donaldson who was outed in December as a police and MI5 agent.

Days before his 20-year career as an informer was exposed, all charges against Mr Donaldson and his co-accused were dropped. The authorities announced prosecution would not be in the public interest.

Mr Blair has since maintained he was not involved in the decision to end the criminal case.

But, Solicitor General Mike O`Brien today confirmed, however, the Prime Minister took part in earlier discussions on whether continuing with the case was in the public interest.

The high level discussions in January 2005, known as the `Shawcross procedure`, also involved Britann’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Home Secretary Charles Clarke and then-Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.

Even though the Solicitor General emphasised no ministers were consulted on the later decision to drop the charges following new information from Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde in November, Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds claimed Mr Blair needed to provided more answers.

The North Belfast representative, who had asked for clarification, said: “What exactly is the truth about what the Prime Minister knew about the abandonment of the Stormontgate case? It seems that whilst Mr Blair is saying one thing about his involvement in consultation before the case was dropped, his Government colleagues are saying something entirely different.”

Mr Donaldson was arrested and charged after police investigating an alleged republican espionage plot raided Sinn Fein offices at the Northern Ireland Assembly in October 2002.

The operation brought down the coalition government and led to scores of prison officers being relocated amid security fears.

Since Mr Donaldson`s unmasking the British Government has been under pressure to disclose all it knew about his work as a mole.

But Mr O`Brien insisted only the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland and the Attorney General were involved in the later discussions over dropping the criminal case.

“So the Shawcross consultation took place earlier in the year,” he said.

“It was a separate issue which arose in November and December which resulted in the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland taking a view after consultations with the attorney general that the case ought to be discontinued.”

Yet Mr Dodds claimed that a full explanation had yet to be given.

“What precisely is the truth?” he asked.

“Was Mr Blair consulted as the Solicitor General said he was or was he not as he claims? Given the Prime Minister`s track record of making misleading statements on issues relating to Northern Ireland it is easy to doubt the sincerity of Mr Blair`s answers.”

Irelandclick

by Francesca Ryan

A West Belfast man who was falsely accused of driving a stolen car on live TV has accepted an out of court settlement from the PSNI.

Stephen Magennis was amongst a group of Sinn Féin supporters attending the count of the Assembly elections poll at Dromore Leisure Centre in November 2003. As he left the complex the PSNI surrounded his car and accused the Poleglass man of travelling in a stolen vehicle.

“The cops surrounded my car back and front but waited a few minutes before they would tell me what the problem was,” Stephen told the Andersonstown News.

“It was completely stage-managed. Then, when the TV crews, reporters and cameras came over, the cops said my car had been reported stolen that day.
“I told them I’d had the car for almost a year and it was taxed, insured and MOT’d. Then my mobile started ringing and people were telling me I was live on the news being accused of driving a stolen car.”

As chairman of the Colin neighbourhood’s Safer Neighbourhood Project (SNP), Stephen believes the incident was a joint attack on his character and the Sinn Féin election team.
“This was more a dig at me and my work at tackling car crime and anti-social behaviour, it was an attempt to wreck my character by saying I was a joyrider, and to criminalise Councillor Paul Butler’s election team who were travelling in our convoy.”

The case was due to be heard at Banbridge Courthouse on Monday, but the PSNI agreed an out of court settlement and will pay Stephen financial compensation.

“In my eyes this is a victory. I had nothing to hide, my car wasn’t stolen and the PSNI knew that. They issued an apology over the airwaves the same night the incident happened but they never apologised to me personally. This is as close as I will get to an admission of guilt,” said Stephen.

“This was a case of wrongful detention and I would encourage all of those who were held back that day to seek legal advice to get some sort of redress for the incident.”

Sinn Féin’s Paul Butler said the incident was a clear case of harassment and has called on electoral officials not to use Dromore Leisure Centre in future elections.

“This case proves that the PSNI’s sole intent was the harassment of Sinn Féin and its supporters as they were leaving the election count. There are those within the PSNI who continue to follow the old agenda of the RUC of harassing republicans.

“Future counts should be moved out of Dromore so that candidates can conduct their election in a safe and neutral environment.”
The PSNI declined to comment on the issue.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick

The suicide rate in West Belfast is almost twice the average of rates in the North a new report shows.

The Interim Report of the Suicide Taskforce, obtained by the Andersonstown News, shows that West Belfast had the highest suicide rate in any parliamentary constituency in the North from 1999-2003.

West Belfast is closely followed by the North of the city.

The statistics show there were 9.8 suicides per 100,000 persons per year from 1999 to 2003 in the North. In West Belfast the rate stands at 18.1.
Figures for North Belfast show a rate of 17.9 per 100,000 people in the same time frame.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has described the statistics in the Interim Report as “deeply disturbing”.

“These statistics give a shocking insight into the extent of suicide and self-harm in the North of Ireland, but in particular in West and North Belfast where levels are twice the six county average,” said Mr Adams.

In June last year Sinn Féin, along with community activists and the bereaved families of some of those who died through suicide, met the Minister with responsibility for health, Shaun Woodward.
In the same month Sinn Féin held a conference at Stormont calling for a Suicide Prevention Strategy for the North, the creation of a taskforce to develop a new strategy, the allocation of funds to make it work, and an integrated all-Ireland approach to this problem.

Following this the Suicide Taskforce was established by the Minister for Health. Its final draft strategy, which will include recommendations for consultation, will be published soon.

“This interim report gives a very clear picture of the scale of the problem and the failures thus far by the health authorities in tackling this problem,” said Mr Adams.
“The statistics make appalling and frightening reading,” he added.
The link between deprivation and suicide and self-harm is starkly highlighted by the report with the suicide rate in deprived areas 75 per cent greater than in non-deprived areas.

“The failure of the health systems to deal with this issue is evident in the review by the Taskforce of the ten action points in the Promoting Mental Health Strategy and Action Plan,” said Mr Adams.

“These failures are attributed to lack of recurrent funding and dedicated resources, lack of co-ordination and health service priority and inability to successfully engage GPs and other health professionals on this issue,” he added.

The Sinn Féin President says that the report’s strengths lie in those measures it identifies as necessary for meeting the challenge of suicide prevention. “This Interim Report from the Suicide Taskforce is a useful first step but that is all it is,” said Mr Adams

“The key to progress will be determined by the draft strategy and the commitment of government to implement and resource it, including a commitment to an all-Ireland approach to this issue.

“The next steps are vital if suicide prevention and the saving of lives is to become real.

“The Department of Health has now published its priorities and budget for 2006-08. I welcome the fact that it states that priority will be given to reducing the number of suicides. However, it’s results which count,” he added.

Colm Donaghy, Chief Executive of the Southern Health and Social Services Board, is the Chair of the Suicide Taskforce.

“We need to look in more depth at why North and West Belfast have high suicide rates,” said Mr Donaghy.

“This is a progress report and is not the final report and in the draft strategy we will make recomendations to examine why the levels are high in North and West Belfast,” he added.

Journalist:: Staff Reporter

Irelandclick

by Roisin McManus

The watchtower at Woodbourne barracks is set to be dismantled, the Andersonstown News can reveal.

Work to dismantle the spy post is set to begin in the next few weeks and it is expected that the work will be completed by March.

The news follows last week’s report in the Andersonstown News that British army accommodation was removed from the site.

Two Portacabins used by the British army as accommodation were removed from the site last week.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the tower was to be decommissioned and said that the work would take place in the next few weeks, although he could not give an exact date when the work would start.
The spokesman said that the watchtower is the last of the British military structures and equipment at Woodbourne.

“Work will start soon to take the tower down and this should be completed by the end of March,” said the MoD spokesman.

“Work has already been carried out to remove Portacabins at Woodbourne and this main body of work will see the tower being taken down.

“When the watchtower goes that is all the British army structures and equipment removed from Woodbourne,” he added.

Upper Falls Sinn Féin Councillor Michael Browne welcomed the news.
“I would welcome any progress in British army demilitarisation,” said Councillor Browne.

“To be perfectly honest anything short of the removal of all military trappings from this barracks will not satisfy local people.

“Eight years on from the Good Friday Agreement, and particularly against the backdrop of the recent IRA weapons initiative, the Upper Falls community fully expects the British government to honour its commitments in relation to demilitarisation.

“If Britain’s war in this part of West Belfast is over then all of its military apparatus must go,” he added.

Councillor Browne said it is now important that land used by the military is used to the advantage of local people.

“Peace and stability will certainly not be served by retaining trappings of conflict that continue to serve as a painful reminder of the campaign waged against the local community by the British military and RUC.

“It is essential that these trappings are now expeditiously dismantled and that the land on which they sit is used to the advantage of local people,” added Councillor Browne.

Journalist:: Roisin McManus

BreakingNews.ie

12/01/2006 - 19:17:47

The Labour Party tonight forced the Government to publish two ’secret’ international treaties with the US.

Front-bench TD Michael D Higgins earlier claimed that the US state department’s website listed the two recent bilateral defence agreements with Ireland but the Government had not revealed them to the Dáil.

“The Constitution requires that such documents must be laid before the Dáil and this has not been done in this case,” Mr Higgins said.

“Why is the Irish Government keeping these agreements secret and not publishing them?”

The Department of Foreign Affairs said the first agreement concerned security measures for the protection of classified information and the other was signed in order to enable Irish troops to avail of US facilities in Kosovo.

A spokesperson for the department tonight said that the Constitution didn’t require them to be published but accepted that the normal practice would be to inform TDs.

“The minister will lay copies of both agreements before the Dáil at the earliest opportunity,” he explained.

The spokesman said that the agreements could not be ’secret’ if referred to on the US website.

“Neither is connected with the use of Irish airports by the US, which is a long-standing practice, which is governed by arrangements dating back some 50 years,” he added.

BreakingNews.ie

12/01/2006 - 18:20:01

The euro should replace sterling as the currency in Northern Ireland to pave the way for an all-Ireland economy, it was claimed today.

Sinn Féin made the proposal in a draft Enterprise and Job Creation policy document to be voted upon at the party’s Ard Fheis next month.

Mitchel McLoughlin, who was a member of a Policy Review Group that drafted the document, said having a single currency would promote economic harmonisation north and south of the border.

“The extension of the euro throughout the whole island is part of the transition to an all-Ireland economy with one tax regime and one currency,” said the Sinn Féin general secretary.

“We believe that currency harmonisation is a necessary step in paving the way for reunification and would yield substantial benefits in terms of economic development particularly for those communities in the border region.”

The Sinn Féin policy document, which will be debated at an internal party meeting on Saturday, calls for a all-island bodies to encourage indigenous and overseas investment.

It also recommends a harmonised 17.5% rate of corporation tax north and south of the border.

An all-Ireland rail network, more north-south air routes and a state oil and gas exploration company are also proposed.

Indymedia.ie

by Ruairi Og O Bradaigh - Republican Sinn Fein - Thursday, Jan 12 2006, 4:36pm
desdalton@rsf.ie address: 223 Parnell St Dublin 1 - phone: 01 8729747

Republican Sinn Fein condemns the arrests of three cumann members in the Armagh
city area in raids by the RUC/PSNI last night as the latest incidence in the
continual harassment of Republicans by British Crown Forces.

Masked RUC/PSNI raiders entered the home of one man as he returned from work
last night and refused to let his children leave the house. He was then arrested
and is still being held with two other men, also members of Republican Sinn
Fein.

In previous cases this British State harassment has led to spurious charges
against members of the organisation which were later dropped.

Ends.

http://RSF.ie

Daily Ireland

DAVID LYNCH

12/01/2006

The family of murdered Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane had a series of “very positive” meetings with political leaders in Dublin yesterday.
Speaking to Daily Ireland moments after leaving a meeting with Tánaiste Mary Harney at the Department of Health on Hawkins Street yesterday evening, Pat Finucane’s widow Geraldine said she was happy with the meetings.
“The meeting with Mary Harney was very positive, and it was a continuation of the other two meetings we had. Everybody is more than willing to support the call for an independent inquiry,” she said.
Members of the Finucane family had met Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Green Party leader Trevor Sargent earlier.
Mrs Finucane said: “They believe that we have every right to seek the truth and to have an inquiry that is independent and meaningful and are prepared to come together and give us cross-party support.
“She [Mary Harney] did not say anything specific but she said that she thought that it would put added pressure on the British government if all the parties came together.
“She said that this was one of the rare occasions when the Dáil is united on a issue. And she felt that it would happen in this particular case because this particular case deserved it.”
After his meeting with the Finucane delegation at Leinster House, Green Party leader Trevor Sargent said: “We fully support the Finucane family in their call for a public and independent inquiry.
“I will be writing directly to British PM Tony Blair on this matter and raising it in the Dáil with the Taoiseach at the earliest possible opportunity.
“I will also be meeting with public representatives from both unionist and nationalist traditions in Belfast to ensure the widest possible consensus for a truly independent inquiry.
“Following the Weston Park agreement, the British government had agreed to the type of independent public inquiry which is needed.
“I believe they are now honour bound not to row back on that position, which in fact they are threatening to do by introducing a political dimension to the inquiry.
“This political dimension is that a British minister rather than a judge will have the last word on the evidence allowed.
“It is clearly not appropriate for a British minster to be determining what evidence is admitted.
“Ultimately, it is unlikely that any judge would agree to oversee such an inquiry when its independence has been so severely compromised,” concluded the Green Party leader.
Yesterday the Finucanes repeated their call to all the political leaders to call on the British government to reveal the full truth about Pat Finucane’s death.
The family is concerned that any inquiry under Britain’s Inquiries Act 2005 will gag witnesses and restrict information.
“We don’t believe the truth will come out at all with the Inquiries Act,” Geraldine Finucane said.
Mrs Finucane and other relatives last month met Ulster Unionist Party leader Reg Empey and Church of Ireland archbishop Robin Eames as part of a series of meetings with political and church leaders both inside and outside the North.

Daily Ireland

12/01/2006

The Continuity IRA has admitted leaving a bomb at an Armagh hotel yesterday.
In a statement issued to Daily Ireland, a spokesperson for the organisation said Armagh City Hotel and a neighbouring PSNI station had both been targets of the car-bomb attack.
A spokesperson for the anti-Good Friday Agreement group said the hotel had been targeted because it regularly hosted meetings of Armagh District Policing Partnership and let members of the security forces use its premises.
The spokesperson said the hotel would be targeted again if it continued to host meetings of the policing body and serve security force members. In 1998, the Real IRA launched a mortar attack on the nearby RUC barracks from the grounds of the hotel.
British army bomb-squad officers spent several hours yesterday defusing the device, which included several gas cylinders. The officers carried out a number of controlled explosions during the operation.
The device had been placed in a Vauxhall Vectra car, which the PSNI said might have been stolen in Armagh city on Tuesday.
A number of men calling themselves “republicans” seized two cars and a shotgun during a raid on a house in the Ballyrath district of Armagh at around 11pm on Tuesday.
A car, believed to be one of the stolen vehicles, was later found on fire in the Armagh area.
In north Belfast yesterday, a pipe bomb was made safe on the Cavehill Road after being found on a wall close to licensed premises.

Belfast Telegraph

Telegraph readers funded vital op

By Nigel Gould
12 January 2006

The little Northern Ireland boy who flew to America for a life-saving brain operation funded by generous Belfast Telegraph readers is now back at school - and continuing to amaze with his remarkable powers of recovery.

Nearly nine months after vital surgery in New York, Pearce Gilmore’s proud dad Seamus revealed the youngster’s state of health is now back to normal.

“He has returned to school,” Seamus said.

“At the moment he is going three days a week but this will soon be increased to five.

“He is doing brilliantly and coping really well at school.

“Every day he continues to amaze me with his progress.”

Seamus also said that new scans had revealed the tumour on Pearce’s brain was continuing to shrink dramatically.

“The fact that it is doing this is out of this world,” he said. “As far as everyone is concerned Pearce is back to normal. He enjoys a normal life. He loves to watch DVDs and riding around on his electric scooter.

“Pearce has amazed everyone - I am continually amazed by his progress.”

After his operation last April, Seamus called his son “a walking miracle”.

Pearce arrived back in Northern Ireland in early June after more than two months in the US for treatment. Since then the 10-year-old has gone from strength to strength.

This time last year, Seamus expressed grave concern that Pearce might not live to see his 10th birthday.

Paediatric surgeon Dr Rick Abbot, from the New York-based Montefiore Children’s Hospital, answered a global SOS call and said he could help the youngster after being sent scans of the tumour.

In February 2005, the Belfast Telegraph helped launch the Pearce Fund.

And within days the money poured in from all over the UK - with calls and offers of support coming throughout the world.

The Telegraph is still getting calls from well-wishers about Pearce’s condition.

Eventually, more than £50,000 was raised.

Seamus added: “Things could not be any better at the moment.”

Belfast Telegraph

By David McKittrick
12 January 2006

The Republic of Ireland’s Heritage Council has warned that many of the country’s birds are under threat because of trends in agriculture. The corncrake, lapwing, barn owl, cuckoo and chough are all on the danger list, according to the official body that monitors the health of Ireland’s wildlife.

In all, 29 species of birds and 120 flowering plants are in serious decline because of the introduction of more intensive farming methods that damage their habitat. Other wildlife, such as the marsh fritillary butterfly, is also under threat.

Michael Starrett, the council’s chief executive, said: “Ireland lags far behind most European countries in the approach it takes towards managing our countryside and we will need to take serious steps to safeguard and protect it. There is a new opportunity for farmers and landowners to receive recognition for the role they play in managing and protecting our heritage, environment and landscape. They perform a public service that benefits everyone in Ireland.”

The council advocated payments to farmers who were most sensitive to heritage management, saying that should give additional financial incentives to others. Over the past decade, agriculture and the environmental lobby have found themselves at odds as measures to protect wildlife have brought complaints from farmers that their livelihood is affected.

Belfast Telegraph

By Brian Dowling
12 January 2006

Plans to allow ‘on-the-run’ paramilitaries to return to Ireland without risk of criminal prosecution have also been abandoned by the Republic’s government.

Secretary of State Peter Hain yesterday scrapped new legislation after fierce opposition by all sides in Belfast and Westminster.

He told MPs the decision last month by Sinn Fein to reject the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill, despite initially appearing to embrace it, had left him with no choice but to go back to the drawing board.

A short time later a spokesman for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern confirmed the Republic’s government was also dropping its plan to introduce a similar measure.

He said withdrawal of the UK legislation meant the proposals for dealing with the matter in this jurisdiction “are now in abeyance”.

Both governments are now gearing up to exert pressure on all Northern Ireland parties to return to talks next month over restoring power-sharing.

Sinn Fein’s about turn came after intense criticism from the SDLP, when it became clear soldiers and police would also have qualified.

Belfast Telegraph

By Chris Thornton
12 January 2006

Sinn Fein only turned against the OTRs legislation because the Government was about to force fugitives to appear in court, SDLP leader Mark Durkan claimed today.

Mr Durkan continued his political onslaught against Sinn Fein over the legislation after the Government announced yesterday that it was being scrapped.

He accused Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams of being “dishonest” about the reasons for reversing support of the proposed scheme, which would have allowed Troubles offenders to avoid jail.

Sinn Fein initially welcomed the Bill but changed their position last month. Secretary of State Peter Hain indicated yesterday that he was dropping the legislation because Sinn Fein had told republicans not to participate in the scheme.

At the same time, Mr Hain confirmed that the Government had been preparing to amend the legislation to overcome objections in the House of Commons. Those amendments would have inserted a requirement for OTRs - short for on-the-runs - to appear before a special tribunal to get their pass out of jail.

Mr Adams said his party opposed the law because members of security forces would qualify alongside IRA members and could avoid jail for collusion offences.

The SDLP leader has repeatedly attacked Sinn Fein over the OTRs deal, describing it as the “Hain-Adams” pact.