Tory ex-councillor is jailed for fraud (From The Argus)
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Former Worthing Tory councillor is jailed for fraud
2:30pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Anna Roberts, Crime reporter
A crooked ex-councillor who stole £70,000 has been jailed for 18 months.
If Conservative Mark O’Keeffe does not pay back £22,000 within three months he will be jailed for an additional three months.
O’Keeffe, who sat as a Tory member on the Castle ward at Worthing Borough Council between 2000 and 2002, stole the money from a client of his consultancy firm to “fund his lifestyle”, Sussex Police said.
Lewes Crown Court was told O’Keeffe, who ran consultancy firm O’Keeffe & Co Legal Solutions Ltd, was supposed to invest the cash into a property portfolio.
However, he did not do this and instead spent it. He admitted theft.
Previously O’Keeffe was banned from working for solicitors’ firms after faking a letter to a court.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) struck the 41-year-old off after finding out that he was pretending to be a solicitor.
Legal documents
The SRA discovered the degree of his deception after he was evicted from a rented property in Forest Barn Mews, Goring, in December 2011.
On leaving this property he left behind six bags of legal documents containing details of solicitors’ clients.
When his landlord passed them to the police it discovered he had written a letter to Worthing Magistrates’ Court claiming to be from Baker & Co solicitors. In fact, he had written it himself.
A statement from the SRA’s adjudicator, Nigel Butcher said: “Mr O’Keeffe acknowledged that he had not acted appropriately in relation to the production of the letter and that he had acted “naively” in relation to the abandonment of the documents.”
The body banned Mr O’Keeffe, now of Marine Crescent, Goring, from being employed as a solicitor or working for a solicitors’ firm.
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Comments(11)
tenerifeisland
says...
3:34pm Wed 13 Mar 13
NickBrt
says...
3:41pm Wed 13 Mar 13
just-a-person
says...
4:03pm Wed 13 Mar 13
Plantpot
says...
4:05pm Wed 13 Mar 13
leftysmellbags
says...
6:06pm Wed 13 Mar 13
I wonder what the ratio is of Labour MPs as compared to Tory MPs caught for fraud? Also I wonder if the Argus is so quick to headline the Labour MPs that are caught? hmm Bias I smells.
Its also worse for Labour MPs to be caught as they make out they are for the people not the toffs and struggle with the same cause etc. But that is Labour all over - say one thing whilst doing another.
Roundbill
says...
7:20pm Wed 13 Mar 13
HJarrs
says...
7:27pm Wed 13 Mar 13
Plantpot
says...
8:56am Thu 14 Mar 13
HJarrs wrote:Your schtick is endlessly boring. The examples that you have chosen have nothing to do with politics whatsoever. On the other hand, which Labour politician wiped £100 billion off the value of retirement funds? Yes, good old Gordon Brown.....
Well I feel the sentence is a bit harsh. After all he was only doing what the financial industry that back the tory party have done to us for years, pension miss selling, libor rate fixing, endowment and ppi selling and countless other frauds.
http://www.telegraph
.co.uk/news/uknews/1
531448/Browns-raid-o
n-pensions-costs-Bri
tain-100-billion.htm
l
Who sold Britain's gold? Labour.
http://www.telegraph
.co.uk/finance/perso
nalfinance/investing
/gold/7511589/Explai
n-why-you-sold-Brita
ins-gold-Gordon-Brow
n-told.html
whereisthe...?
says...
11:22am Thu 14 Mar 13
We shouldn't be surprised at the story - Tory = fraud, theft, selfishness and lying. Just like Plantpot
In March 2008 Cameron said the cause of any economic UK failings was "TOO MUCH BANKING REGULATION by Labour"(!!!)
2013 Cameron "UK economic crisis was because Labour DIDN'T REGULATE BANKS ENOUGH" (Then proceeded to be the ONLY EU country refusing to cap bankers bonuses!)
2010 Osborne "Call an early GENERAL ELECTION because the damage of losing the UK's Triple AAA status is shocking"
2013 Osborne "The loss of the UK's triple AAA rating is no big deal"
These are all well documented quotes and facts, reported not just by left wing sources BUT ALSO RIGHT WING ONES Plantpot. As you well know, since others have already responded to your ridiculousness with the same facts!!
Which you never admit or acknowledge!! Typical Tory.
Now lets see you demand sources or play naive rather than admit you know this already, or spend 5 seconds finding thousands of sources proving these facts on Google.
And don't try saying they're not relevant.
You, your tactics, Osborne, Cameron, and THIS STORY typify everything anyone needs to know about the vast majority of TORIES.
Lying, hypocritical, manipulative, selfish, and nasty. Your time has come as you well know, watch your party disintegrate. Bye bye!!
Plantpot
says...
5:34pm Thu 14 Mar 13
whereisthe...? wrote:I don't understand your point. (To be honest I struggle with a lot of your posts making sense).
Yawn. Plantpot, go away. Why do you always ignore the facts, while selecting yours from right wing Tory rags?
We shouldn't be surprised at the story - Tory = fraud, theft, selfishness and lying. Just like Plantpot
In March 2008 Cameron said the cause of any economic UK failings was "TOO MUCH BANKING REGULATION by Labour"(!!!)
2013 Cameron "UK economic crisis was because Labour DIDN'T REGULATE BANKS ENOUGH" (Then proceeded to be the ONLY EU country refusing to cap bankers bonuses!)
2010 Osborne "Call an early GENERAL ELECTION because the damage of losing the UK's Triple AAA status is shocking"
2013 Osborne "The loss of the UK's triple AAA rating is no big deal"
These are all well documented quotes and facts, reported not just by left wing sources BUT ALSO RIGHT WING ONES Plantpot. As you well know, since others have already responded to your ridiculousness with the same facts!!
Which you never admit or acknowledge!! Typical Tory.
Now lets see you demand sources or play naive rather than admit you know this already, or spend 5 seconds finding thousands of sources proving these facts on Google.
And don't try saying they're not relevant.
You, your tactics, Osborne, Cameron, and THIS STORY typify everything anyone needs to know about the vast majority of TORIES.
Lying, hypocritical, manipulative, selfish, and nasty. Your time has come as you well know, watch your party disintegrate. Bye bye!!
Reference your quote on "too much banking regulation" are you basing this on Cameron's speech of 28th March 2008? If so, you've just shot yourself in the foot. Find the full speech here:
http://www.conservat
ives.com/News/Speech
es/2008/03/David_Cam
eron_A_Conservative_
Economic_Strategy.as
px
I have no problem not capping banker's bonuses. 40% of EU financial services activity goes through the UK. 60% of tax is paid by 14% of earners. A nicely socialist proportion I would have thought?
Ed Balls (Labour): " I apologised a year ago for the fact that we didn’t regulate the banks in a tough enough way" Oct. 2012.
I think you'll find the regulation comments from Cameron concern Labour's failure to regulate the banks in the right way, as agreed by your Labour chum.
Osborne called for an early general election ref loss of AAA in 2009.
This stuff is written in Labour List for goodness sake and you can't copy it out properly!
You should also bear in mind that the govt. is a coalition, and Tory policies to reduce the deficit are almost certainly moderated.
Got any other gems for us? Please check your facts first though.
Crystal Ball says...
2:48pm Wed 13 Mar 13