Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: AHP continua rivelazioni: Sputtanato per sempre l'MI6

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Articolo censurato del Sunday Business (11 ottobre 1998):
Former spies take up boardroom seats: TOP FIRMS GET SECRETS FROM MI6
by Mark Watts, chief news reporter
The name is Bond, James Bond - licensed to make a killing for UK plc.
An investigation by Sunday Business has revealed how MI6 is supplying
Britain's biggest companies with a steady stream of Intelligence reports
on sensitive commercial secrets via a clandestine network of spies.
The practice, revealed by intelligence and industrial sources, suggests
MI6 may be giving large companies an advantage over smaller rivals.
It heightens pressure to force MI6 to open up its policies to public
scrutiny. According to well-placed sources, the spy agency is mainly
focused on commercial, not military, espionage. These sources have
spoken on condition of anonimity, except for Richard Tomlinson, the
renegade former MI6 officer in hiding in Switzerland. MI6, or the
Secret Intelligence Service, has a far higher penetration of the City
and industry than previously realised. The penetration extends to the
media: one national newspaper editor has been recruited as a paid MI6
agent, says Tomlinson. He said this was the most outstanding success
of I-OPS, or "Information Operations", an MI6 unit that cultivates
"friendly" journalists and editors. The "requirements" of MI6 are
setout in a thick document drawn up by the joint intelligence
committee. Those familiar with it say most MI6 requirements are
commercial rather than military- especially in Europe. Tomlinson
said:"When I saw the requirements, I was astounded. Many of the
countries in there are supposed to be allies, especially our
European partners. It is listed alphabetically, and includes France,
Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland." Not included are the four
countries in an intelligence-sharing agreement with Britain: America,
Canada, Australia and New Zeland. In Switzerland, it is claimed, MI6
targets the big private banks, including UBS, by paying staff to
supply information from bank accounts. Switzerland is famous for its
banking secrecy, so its banks hold a goldmine of both commercial and
military Intelligence. Saddam Hussein, for example, is know to have
stashed away a fortune in Swiss banks. Last month, Tomlinson revealed
that MI6 ran a high-level mole in Germany's central bank. He named
Andrew Mitchell as the spymaster who, while working under diplomatic
cover in Bonn, ran the Bundesbank mole between 1995 and 1997 before
being posted back to London. While MI6 collates military intelligence
for the government, commercial information is supplied to Britain's
top companies, including clearing and merchant banks, defence companies
such as British Aerospace, the oil companies BP and Shell, and other
global companies such as British Airways. Senior officers retire from
MI6 to join these companies as non-executive directors, often on
subsidiary boards, or as security officers. Tomlinson said: " It is
part of the retirement package. They are effectively MI6 liaison
officers, just like the MI6 liaison officers in Whitehall departments.
" MI6 supplies "CX reports" to corporate "liaison officers",
who re-write them as memos for restricted distribution within their
companies, CX is the codename MI6 gives intelligence reports sent to
other secret agencies, including the domestic
Security Service, better know as MI6, the signals intelligence agency
GCHO, and the joint intelligence committee. Tomlinson said MI6 passed
sensitive economic secrets from the Bundesbank spy to several clearing
and merchants banks, including Midland  Banks, the Royal Bank of
Scotland and Kleinwort Benson. "The Midland Bank is a complete MI6
Bank," he said. "The 'listenig bank' was one way of putting it".
One high-level banking source said:"Banks are a ready-made
intelligence-gathering apparatus. If MI6 wants to tap into that, it has
to
do something in return." Some banks help MI6, it is claimed, by
supplying credit cards in false names, channelling money overseas for
cover operations, and providing jobs for retired spies. These
ex-spies in turn supply MI6 with bank account details. Nothing the
secret services do is unlawful if it has been properly authorised.
MI6 officers mainly rely on the Royal Bank of Scotland to supply
credit cards for aliases, Tomlinson claims. "They have special forms
for the purpose," he said. "Midland Bank provides a similar service,
but on a smaller scale." A stream of MI6 officers can be seen lining
up regularly at a Royal Bank of Scotland branch near Victoria one
afternoon towards the end of each month to pay off their aliase's
credit cards with cash. However, the temptation to abuse false
identities is too great for some officers. One, whom Tomlinson called
Agent C, was banned from drunken driving. But he appeared in court as
one of his aliases, allowing Agent C to carry on driving on his own
licence. Besides banks, defence companies are among the most important
recipients of MI6 CX reports. Tomlinson claims MI6 helped British
Aerospace win a £500m dcal to sell 24 Hawk jets to Indonesia in 1993
by supplying details of  a competing bid from Dassault, French makers
of the rival Alpha jets. The contract was controversial because of
Indonesia's crackdown in East Timor. Similar intelligence was
supplied to BAe to help it win orders for Tornado fighters and Hawks
as part of the £1.7bn Malaysian defence package, Tomlinson said.
This arms deal was embroiled in the Pergau Dam affai because it was
linked to £234m-worth of aid for a huge Malaysian hydro-electric
project. Sunday Business disclosed last February that Stephen Kock,
then an MI5 and MI6 agent, and a defence industry financial consultant
at Midland Bank, was the architect of the Malaysian defence package and
helped with the Perau Dam project. A former senior BAe executive said:
"British Aerospace and other defence companies receive information
from our intelligence agencies and other sources." Another ex-executive
who worked at a smaller rival defence company said:"The big
boys have the market sewn up. There are resident spooks throughout
their ranks, and via them these companies get preferential treatment.
" BP and Shell also receive MI6 reports. One oil industry source, who
worked at a smaller rival, said:"My company received some information
from MI6, but it was regarded as worthless. The bigger companies were
getting a lot of useful information." British Airways, codenamed "Bucks
Fizz" by MI6, also receives CX reports. Sunday Business disclosed last
May that the Belgium authorities believe the head of security at
British Airways, Iain Jack, and two other former "special forces"
officers, could provide evidence in the reopened investigation into
the murder of Iraqi supergun designer Gerald Bull. Records show they
were in Brussels the day before Bull was shot dead in the Belgian
capital. The MI6 officer responsible for collating information on the
supergun was identified by Sunday Business as Roger Holdness, who
joined the agency from the Defence Intelligence Service in 1989.
Industry sources said he maintained close relations with defence
companies, gathering and supplying intelligence.. Tomlinson, who went
to Bpsnia as MI6 station chief in 1993, confirmed the importance of
British Airways to MI6. He said:"The first job of a station chief on
arriving in a city is to contact the local Bucks Pizz manager and try
to recruit him. He is encouraged by his company to allow himself to
be recruited."  MI6 also regards its relationship with the trade
secretary as critical in landing contracts for big companies.
Intelligence and industry sources said the security services enjoy a
friendler relationship with trade secretary Peter Mandelson than with
predecessor, Margaret Beckettt. They also talk of friction between
senior MI6 officers and Robin Cook, who, as foreign secretary, is
ultimately responsible for their agency. In addition to the
direct supply of intelligence, Sunday Business has identified an
MI6 cut-out organisation, The Hackluyt Foundation, wich channels
intelligence from UK agencies to big companies and gathers
information from its own contacts. It is run by "Tomlinson's old MI6
boss, Christopher James, who retired from the agency in 1994. Other
direstors include a former Royal Dutch Shell managing director, a
former BP deputy chairman and a one-time Home Office permanent
secretary. Tomlinson, who worked for MI6 from 1991until being sacked in
1995 for "going on frolics of his own", said: "Chris James is just
the sort of person they would pur in charge of an MI6 front
operation." The organisation was set up in 1995 by the late Sir
Fitzroy Maclean, an old friend of James. Appropriately, Maclean is
the spy upon whom Ian Fleming is thought to have based James Bond.

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