21:49
Court 7/11
seebeearrgh
22UP
No notes made today but a few points worthy of mention from memory.
Mr "sliipery" Wempen has been shown to tell porkies today..more than once
When giving conflicting evidence he was asked.'is your wriitten evidence or your verbal evidence correct?'
Blackmailing TK was discussed in an email from EW to RW
During the mid morning break the right side of the court (GKP) was quite noisy and bouyant, quite a contrast from the left which was quiet.
Sorry nothing specific but I'm sure our great reporters are on to it.
Great to chat with others today.
JG warming up ad doing a stunning job.
Reassured more each day.
Still the big question....how the hell did this case get to court?
Nige
- Blackmailinging TK was discussed in an email from EW to RW"
The Wimpens really are something special !!!
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http://www.iii.co.uk/investment/detail/?display=discussion&code=cotn%3AGKP.L&it=le&action=detail&id=10165043
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The next section focussed on an email exchange between RW and Eric where RW was saying he wanted protection if the agreement came under international scrutiny. JG suggested his security clearance may be jeopardised if the tide changed and the PSCs were seen as politically undesirable.
RW said he was nervous as he’d just been cut out of the deal and was having some reservations about the entire activity. Worried he wouldn’t receive any monies, and trying to settle the dispute with Gulf. Concerned that the PSCs from which the monies were derived should be seen as legitimate activities, and if Gulf had done anything ‘improper’.
JG Was this another reason Excalibur might not want to appear on PSC, given the situation in Kurdistan was so volatile?
RW I don’t see why this would be an issue.
RW emailed Eric on 25th November 2007, after the PSCs had been signed) forwarding an article mentioning that Baker’s (?) role in the Hunt deal had annoyed the US Govt and the Iraqis. There was hostility within the US Govt to signature of the PSCs with the KRG. The article said the agreement could have no legal standing.
JG You knew the US Govt would frown on the PSCs. This is why you wanted the deal done ‘under the radar’.
RW I wanted to keep it confidential and was aware of the complications, however, this didn’t outweigh getting the deal of a lifetime. I couldn’t conceal it from the US Govt.
The next part revolved around ‘parallel’ routes via lobbying by certain people to Barzani. There was a ‘packet’ that was to be hand-delivered to Barzani by Keith Schuette. This was delivered by RW to KS at his yacht at a dockside location.
JG asked what was in the packet and why did it have to be delivered by hand. RW said it was a presentation which was too big to email. Who wrote it? ‘I believe I did’. RW didn’t remember if there was a covering letter. He was trying to speed up proceedings by using ‘friends in Washington’. Bringing it to the forefront of Barzani’s mind. JG suggested that the idea of lobbying was to get US politicians involved who looked favourably on Kurdistan.
Then there was mention that it was a one page letter with no attachments and that it was a detailed counter offer to the one made by Dr. Ashti. Then there was talk of supporting documents.
JG said it was clumsy and misguided and that it did no good.
RW It was not clumsy and misguided and lobbying happens every day.
JG : Dr Ashti has said that Excalibur was guilty of serious misdemeanours.
RW : He’s entitled to say what he wishes to say. I don’t know what he was referring to.
We now jump to November 2007. An email from Eric to RW after they had been cut out of the deal.: ‘chances are they won’t strike oil anyway’.
The email referred to ‘every conversation will come up’ and mentioning TK cheating on his wife, and ‘payoffs to Barzani’.
JG suggested this amounted to blackmailing TK and his wife regarding his infidelity.
RW said they were angry they had been cut out of the deal of a lifetime.
JG : How would you characterise this if not blackmail?
RW : We were angry.
JG (Exasperated) Yes, let’s assume that. Why is this not blackmail?
RW : Eric was having a stream of consciousness moment, but we didn’t do it.
(I loved this bit!!!)
JG : Were there payoffs to Barzani?
RW : This was Eric being creative.
JG : Are you suggesting that my client was involved in a payoff? What were the payoffs you had in mind?
RW : We didn’t have any payoffs in mind, though we could accuse TK of this.
JG: So you were considering putting a gross libel into circulation?
RW : View it in the context that TK had just cut us out of the deal. I didn’t know we’d end up in this situation. Nothing was done about it.
Judge : So there were never any payoffs to Barzani?
RW : No. Some things were clearly inappropriate but we never did anything inappropriate.
JG : So there were no payoffs to Barzani?
RW : No.