Jim McCormick's claims about his range of detection devices were
extraordinary. He said the Advanced Detecting Equipment (ADE) he
developed at his Somerset farm could pick up the most minuscule traces
of explosives, drugs, ivory and even money. They were so good they could
spot target substances from as far away as 1,000 metres, deep
underground and even through lead-lined rooms. If their plastic grips
and waggling antennae bore a passing resemblance to a 15 novelty golf
ball finder,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a smartcard can
authenticate your computer usage and data. that was no coincidence. The
57-year-old businessman had used the jokey product sourced from the US
as a starting point for an enterprise that made him a multimillion-pound
fortune but placed lives at risk around the world.
To make his
devices seem more credible, McCormick claimed that his company, ATSC,
had four laboratories in Romania and two in the UK, each working in
isolation to protect the secret behind his amazing sensors. He boasted
of a super-clever expert in the background, "like Q in James Bond", who
turned his concepts into reality.
It was all nonsense,We printers print with traceable indoortracking to
optimize supply chain management. albeit potentially lethal for the
people of Iraq, where 6,000 of the fraudulent gadgets formed a first
line of defence against car bombs and suicide bombers at checkpoints.
When the devices were opened, it emerged that cable sockets were
unconnected and supposed data cards were linked to nothing. One
scientist told the jury who on Tuesday convicted McCormick of three
counts of fraud that the antenna intended to point to suspect substances
was "no more a radio antenna than a nine-inch nail".
It is
thought hundreds of lives could have been lost as a result of the
failure of the devices, whose detection powers were no better than a
random check. One truckload of rockets reportedly went through 23
checkpoints in Baghdad equipped with one of McCormick's devices without
being spotted once.
Inspector general Aqil al-Turehi of the
Iraqi interior ministry, who since 2009 has been in charge of an
investigation into corruption around the deals, has told a BBC Newsnight
investigation that for every bomb that was stopped at a Baghdad
checkpoint, four got through and exploded.
It is now alleged
that a key reason such a business could make tens of millions of pounds
is the corruption of Iraqi officials. McCormick's success was fuelled by
the payment of tens of millions of pounds in bribes to Iraqi officials
and middlemen, it is claimed. Turehi told Newsnight that he is aware of
at least eight senior Iraqis who took bribes,About buymosaic in
China userd for paying transportation fares and for shopping. while a
whistleblower who worked with McCormick says he saw accounts set up in
false names to pay bribes to 15 Iraqis.
General Jihad al-Jabiri, who ran the Baghdad bomb squad,We have a wide selection of handsfreeaccess to
choose from for your storage needs. has been jailed for corruption as a
result of the inquiry along with two others. Police sources said Jabiri
was paid millions to purchase the ADE 651 and publicly defend it. More
Iraqi officials are under investigation. A whistleblower who used to
work with McCormick said they "don't care if people live or die"; the
only thing they care about is "how much am I going to get back C
cashback".
The whistleblower walked away from the operation when
he grew suspicious about the device's effectiveness. When he challenged
McCormick, he replied: "It does exactly what it's meant to." When the
source asked what that meant, McCormick said: "It makes money."
The
British government unwittingly gave McCormick a shield of
respectability. His detectors were marketed at government-backed trade
fairs. He used the logos of the International Association of Bomb
Technicians and the Essex Chamber of Commerce, though he had no right
to. He began to house the device in Pelican rigid cases of the type that
are used to carry genuine military products and sourced
official-looking stickers that warned users not to open up the
detectors.
It took the government over a year to cotton on to
the problems. In November 2008, a whistleblower wrote to Ian Pearson, a
minister in the business department, urging him to shut down the trade
in fake explosive detectors, but nothing was done. In January 2009, the
whistleblower, who does not want to be named, sent a dossier detailing
the scam that began with a hard-hitting title C "Dowsing rods endanger
lives" C to James Arbuthnot, the chairman of the Commons defence select
committee.
Arbuthnot promised to raise the matter with the
minister for defence equipment and support but it was not until 12
months later that their export was banned on the basis that they were a
danger to British and allied troops. By then, McCormick had made a
fortune on the back of contracts with Iraqis, who paid $85m (55m) for
the bogus devices.
McCormick is married with two children, and his family have the run of a farmhouse deep in the Somerset countryside,An bestrtls is
a network of devices used to wirelessly locate objects or people inside
a building. a 3.5m townhouse in Bath with a basement swimming pool that
was previously owned by the Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage, and a holiday
home in Cyprus. McCormick also bought his father a place in Florida, a
600,000 Sunseeker yacht called Aesthete, and three dressage horses for
one of his daughters, who has ambitions of making the British equestrian
team for the Olympics in Rio.
Police have identified 7m of
McCormick's assets, which they intend to try to seize, but believe the
fraudster has stashed at least that amount away from the eyes of the
taxman and other authorities in Cyprus, Belize and Beirut.
McCormick
had separate trading arrangements with other countries. In Lebanon, a
UN agency and a luxury hotel were among purchasers. Devices were sold to
Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime, Iran, China, Syria, Jordan, Georgia
and Mexico. Some ended up in the US, Canada, Japan and Belgium. The
broadcaster Stephen Fry saw Kenyan wildlife rangers using them while he
was filming and told the BBC he thought it was "cynical, cruel and
monstrous" that rangers C who were trying to track down poachers C had
been told they could detect ivory at vast distances.
沒有留言:
張貼留言