Letter to Sir Gus O’Donnell, 3rd May 2010
Dear Sir Gus
Because you have failed to respond to our claim re corrupt acts against us by civil servants, we write yet again concerning your fraudulent claim that ‘if you break open a civil servant you will find running right through him, like a stick of rock the words Honesty, Objectivity, Integrity and Impartiality’?Having been corruptly handled by civil servants and governmental complaint procedure since 2003, we are somewhat peeved by your Orwellian protection and promotion of corrupt government machinery. We are also peeved by your silence?
In the public’s interest we write disclosing further corrupt act against ‘good governance’ hoping to open your eyes re corrupt acts in the public sector.’
For instance the appalling long-term failure by Defra’s cancerous Rural Payments Agency, shows the Cabinet Office’s failure to deal with a seriously freewheeling corrupt regime being protected by Whitehall ‘slap on wrist’ machinery.
In 2005 it was said of the RPA, that its failure to deal with farmers needs was one of the most grotesque examples of maladministration of any British government – 5 years later in 2010, the gross stupidity and injustices were still being handed out to farmers by RPA civil servants. Cabinet Office and unions have no interest in stopping this corruption of ‘good governance’.
If a front-line soldier had been as corrupt in delivery of duty to the nation, as many civil servants are, he would certainly have been court marshalled and imprisoned. There are calls for this seriously inept RPA agency, with its ‘couldn’t give a damn’ staff be closed down!
Under your stewardship these severely inept ‘couldn’t give a damn’ RPA civil servants still make ‘high profile’ errors, their stupidity continues, resulting in Defra being fined even more millions by the EU for its latest RPA failings. The Farmers Weekly reports that a significant number of farmers have not been paid in full for 2007/8, that some 16000 claims had not been settled for 2009.
It was reported by the Independent in an article ‘Consultants fleece the public purse’, that between 2002 and 2007 the seriously dysfunctional Defra with its overloaded numbers of inept staff, paid out more than £1billion on consultants and ‘professional services’, £187million going on management consultants.
Despite this enormous waste, we now find these conspicuous ‘couldn’t give a damn’ RPA staff, have been paid £1.85million in bonuses since 2005.
The Cabinet Office and unions are at fault in negotiating and agreeing unwarranted salaries, benefits, bonuses and pension for severely inept civil servants. It is of little concern to civil servants, their unions or the Cabinet Office, that the taxpayer cannot maintain such perverse public sector salary agreements.
There is the added costs of unlimited public sector sick leave, where expensive temps help sap the nation's coffers. The Cabinet Office and unions have done much harm to ‘good governance’ where ‘negotiated’ civil service salaries, pensions and murky bonuses are too often way above staff earning capabilities – many being in the main unproductive – not having the ability to deliver on projects. They prefer to call in expensive consultants – passing the buck.
All this allowed public sector fraud means that the taxpayer is not getting value for money!
It is crucial that citizens keep an eye on crooked public sector ‘padding’, it has been disclosed that millions have mysteriously found there way into civil service pension
funds. No one within Whitehall turned a hair – many will benefit from this theft.
Whilst everyone preaches ‘austerity’ the Cabinet Office stands over a corrupt system where some 25000 civil servants have salaries of more than £100000, this does not include perks and fiddles.
Sir Gus, we now turn to the seriously corrupt and misleading Home Office. The HO is well known for its lies and deceit re issuing false information on immigration. The Home Office has ‘history’ re the issuing of false immigration figures, it goes back a long way – the deceit is obviously well entrenched and has resulted in some astounding political skulduggery, they will stop at nothing in order to deceive the public
Some years ago HO Ministers ordered independent civil servants to mount a covert propaganda campaign. This was against one of its leading critics (MigrantWatch) re government immigration policy of issuing false figures?
It is claimed that documents show how the Home Office, in a desperate campaign to try and score political points against their critics, assembled a team of civil servants; this corrupt political mechanism was formed to fight against factual criticism by MigrantWatch and other critics of government policy.
Having constantly published dishonest figures, the HO is a dinosaur when it comes to transparency and is prepared to lie through its teeth. Fooling the electorate re issuing dishonest figures is still going on within the Home Office today.
A recent damming report reveals that 60% of releases issued by the HO contain ‘statistical lacunae’ – lies. It is also reported that the HO also claimed ‘success’ without qualification or evidence of such successes’, and ‘missed out key statistics on such crucial issues as immigration and crime’?
The costly ‘unfit for purpose’ Home Office paid some £660 odd millions to consultants – yet the HO is still as backward as ever re honest endeavour.
While it seems that immigrants were purposely allowed in without too much scrutiny, the Home Office failed to check and keep tabs on criminals entering the UK.
Such sloth can be found at every level of the inept HO management - to the point of being criminally negligent.
Whilst under Jaquie Smith, civil servants managed to lose data on 84,000 criminals – then with even greater Home Office stupidity; murderers, rapist and paedophiles were let free.
Many of these criminals turned to ‘people trafficking’, that led to foreign girls being abducted and forced into brothels. Thanks largely to the Home Office’s dysfunctionality; the UK now suffers self-induced ‘slavery’ problems.
We are mortified that this still largely dysfunctional Home Office is in charge of national security?
David Blunket found the HO ‘a most destructive group of people’. Jack Straw relates how he felt he was a prisoner within the HO. The HO is a ‘wretched law unto itself’.
The public sees that transparency has been lost throughout all governments – one can see that secrecy, fraud and corruption are entrenched across departments, agencies and quangos. Stupid civil servants are continually overpaying benefits to claimants. Many benefit cheats can live a relative life of luxury, have expensive cars, and can enjoy a better standard of living than many taxpayers who are forced to cough-up in order to provide for these unearned benefit ‘luxuries’.
All civil service salaries we feel, should be tied to performance – end all fraudulent payments - where merely turning up for work should not entitle civil servants to a bonus?
Transparency International interprets public sector corruption as ‘the abuse of entrusted power for private gain’ yet this abuse of the public purse is widespread
I, having complained about civil service corruption, and eventually faced Revenue barristers and lawyers? This cancerous collection of powerful corruptors within governmental public sector complaint procedures, showed pure Orwellian despotism.
The Mafia claims that abusing political power is better than sex, it certainly applies to government barristers and lawyers
For 7 years we have been publicising the fact that we were corruptly handled by crooked Revenue/VOA civil servants aided by ombudsman ‘porkies’ – all to no avail?
We found that Transparency has long been manipulated by government officials and civil servants. Transparency is now seen by academics as being more often preached by politicians than practised, more often referred to by officials than defined, and continuously advocated by political hacks and civil servants who have no intention of being open and honest.
We have long proclaimed that virtually all government departments have more than their fair share of incompetents, fraudsters, fiddlers and corrupters of ‘good governance’.
The public purse has long been an easy target for public sector fraudsters and fiddlers? One can see the freewheeling corruption where 140000 senior officials were
issued with government procurement cards – just who issues these cards to some 140,000 senior officials who officiate with much incompetence and skulduggery!
These procurement cards have purchased such things as £100 taxi - rides and near £100 bottles of wine with expensive meals, the mind boggles at such contempt of the public purse! We repeat that Transparency International interprets public sector corruption as ‘the abuse of entrusted power for private gain’.
Despite the anomaly of having millions of government employees, too many are incapable of fulfilling projects. The Independent 2010 states that ‘Consultants fleece the public purse’. It claims that an army of management consultants employed to run the UK has come to a staggering £20billion in the past 10 years. When one includes sums spent on the largely fruitless IT systems the figure rises to £70billion?
Incompetent, indolent civil servants are all too ready to call in consultants, handing over projects they cannot do, or don’t want to do, or are afraid of messing up.
The lack of honest endeavour has screwed-up the publics view of the public sector – the nations trust in the state is at an all-time low.
Corruption by civil servants is quite common all around the world; it appears that the unprotected ‘public purse’ is a magnet that seems to attract many a miscreant. Those having the mind to steal will find that every fiddle is not only allowable, but often comes with its own entrenched protection racket? Very few are reported to the police?
The high standards that taxpayers are entitled to, no longer exist - eroded away by the lack of transparency, and unattainable public sector ‘accountability’.
Greece is s typical example of public sector corruption; its civil servants have got public sector fraud and corruption down to a fine art. Some 40,000 daughters of dead Greek civil servants collect their dead parent’s pensions. Civil servants can retire at 40. A bonus is paid for just turning up for work? There is a call to shut down some 200 antiquated committees that no longer function – that have long-outlived their usefulness, yet remain costly to maintain.
Many Greeks seem shy of paying taxes – apparantly not wanting to contribute to fraudulent civil service salaries and pensions, hence the virtual collapse of the state!
The IMF demands that Greece reduce excessive spending on civil servants. While the Greek Prime Minister says he has inherited a ‘sinking ship’ that previous governments dare not touch’ – a bit like UK governments.
From around the world there are stories of gross incompetence, fraud and corruption; so what’s new?
New Zealand the deputy Premier said that civil servants have had enough time to think about two important things (1) is to provide a better service to the public, and (2) that they become more efficient.
Quebec a large number of staff wastes time surfing the web – a favourite world-wide public sector pastime.
Taiwan malfeasant civil servants committing wrongdoing will see their pensions cut or forfeited.
Malaysia strict supervision was necessary to weed-out the undisciplined and irresponsible civil servants from the system. Such punishment was also meant to act as a deterrent to others.
The corrupt nature of the political class, their officials and many government departments often lack credible responses to public grievance; we complained about crooked civil servants and having gone through a protracted fraudulent complaint system, eventually faced crooked Revenues barristers and lawyers? The undemocratic ‘old pals act’ proving to be more powerful than the ‘rule of law’.
We are in our 7th year of protest; I am an 84-year-old war pensioner, ex front-line.
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