Ganley Iraq shenanigans from The Phoenix April 18 2008

Politics.ie is an Irish political bulletin board run by Libertas employee and former employee of Declan Ganley's Rivada, David Cochrane. Rivada is a US Defence Dept. contractor.

Jane's Intelligence in Janurary 2008 confirmed US intelligence communities and neo con unease at the Lisbon . Was Ganley's Libertas the response?

Photo: John Bolton, George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice
during a United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting
September, 2005 in New York City

Declan Ganley's Libertas helped US neo con and intelligence interests by launching a hugely funded anti Lisbon campaign in Ireland. Ganley also aided his US Defense Dept. paymasters by fronting the campaign. His Rivada Pacific is a major US military communications contractor see over 40 contracts awarded to Ganley's firm here

In the days before the Lisbon Treaty referendum was held in Ireland in June 2008, John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN who served under Ronald Reagan and George Bush senior, visited Dublin and said the new Treaty could hurt the military alliance between Europe and the US.


Ganley's business partner Don Di Marino had direct connections with neo con John Bolton as they both served under Ronald Reagan. Don De Marino has been Declan Ganley's business partner in various ventures since the 1990 including Ganley's current firm Rivada, a US defence contracting out fit that uses laws designed to help Native American corporations get competition free contracts from the federal government. The disgraced Ted Stephens , Republican senator from Alaska was instrumental in this and also recieved campaign contribution's from Ganley's wife Delia.

Don De Marino, Reagan's Saudi trade advisor
and Ganley business partner

Bolton arrived in Ireland just before the vote in June at a time when the Yes side was showing a slight lead in the polls. He warned that the treaty was " a huge mistake" that would "undercut Nato"
see the Telegraph article of 09 Jun 2008 on Bolton's interference in Irish and European internal politics here

On 18 June following Irish voters rejecting the Lisbon Treaty The Guardian's Ilana Bet-El
asked
"Why did the famous neo con and former UN ambassador take sides in Ireland's referendum?" see here
Bolton was speaking only days before Ireland held a referendum on the EU Treaty, the only member country to do so, when the latest polls showed the Yes campaign slightly ahead. Bolton has previously warned the deal threatens Britain's special relationship with the United States argued that if the EU has its own military capability, people will think Nato is redundant and Europe "can take care of their own defence"
An article from Jane's Intelligence Digest - January 18, 2008 explained that the USA intelligence community were worried about the effect that the Lisbon ratification would have. They feared it would stop US intelligence and security officials being able to circumvent EU institutions by dealing with individual countries directly.

This adds some weight to the suspicions and claims that Declan Ganley's Libertas campaign was in fact a spoiler operation which was orchestrated by US neo cons. The financing of Libertas's campaign is still a mystery and is currently being investigated by Ireland's Standards in Public Office Commission an independent body established in December 2001 by the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. Sipo has six members and is chaired by a former Judge of the High Court. It has supervisory roles under three separate pieces of legislation. Its functions include supervising the disclosure of interests and compliance with tax clearance requirements, the disclosure of donations and election expenditure and the expenditure of state funding received by political parties.

Their report on Libertas is awaited with great interest. Read Jane's report below:

Jane's Intelligence Digest - January 18, 2008
New EU treaty worries US intel services

As EU governments focus on securing ratification of the proposed Lisbon Reform Treaty in 2008, United States policymakers are concerned its provisions could present serious challenges to transatlantic intelligence and homeland security co-operation.
The main US reservation is that by transferring additional law and justice functions from the individual EU member states to EU institutions, the treaty could disrupt existing bilateral relations between US and EU governments without establishing anything better.

Washington still prefers bilateral co-operation

Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, its intelligence and homeland security officials have prioritised the strengthening of collaboration with European governments against the mutual threat of Islamist-inspired terrorism. Despite periodic expressions of discontent, which naturally attracted the most media attention, US intelligence community officials, US law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security routinely praise their European counterparts for using various bilateral mechanisms to pursue joint initiatives encompassing non-proliferation, immigration and other counter-terrorism-related issues.

In contrast, Washington-based policy makers routinely criticise EU-wide bodies for proving at best ineffectual, and at worst downright disruptive, in their efforts in the global war on terrorism. Common criticisms include an inability to determine an appropriate point of contact for US officials in Brussels, a perception that many Europeans are misguidedly seeking a negotiated solution to the war on terrorism, and excessive preoccupation on the part of EU lawmakers with protecting the privacy of EU nationals suspected of engaging in terrorist-related activities.

Treaty worries

US intelligence and security officials have been able to circumvent EU institutions in many cases so far by relying extensively on formal and informal arrangements with the individual member governments. In addition, Washington has felt confident that its European allies would use their powers to veto unwelcome EU-wide proposals in areas related to security and defence. If adopted, the Lisbon treaty could threaten many of these arrangements. Most notably, the treaty would expand the range of policy issues that can be decided by qualified majority voting, reducing a single country's ability to exercise a national veto. Some of the new justice and home affairs issues no longer requiring unanimity - migration, criminal justice, and judicial and police co-operation - concern topics of great significance for homeland security and counter-terrorism. US officials fear that a majority of EU members will agree on policies that could make it harder for US and EU governments to freeze the assets of suspected terrorists, deny asylum to feared extremists, or store and share data about EU nationals who US intelligence believes may be engaged in threatening activities.

The treaty's expanded authorisation of 'opt-outs' and 'opt-ins' also generates unease among US homeland security managers. The opt-outs could enable certain EU members to exempt themselves from agreements negotiated between Brussels and Washington. The opt-ins would permit select EU governments to pursue 'enhanced co-operation' in other areas - such as developing EU-based defence capacities that the US would prefer to see assigned to NATO, where Washington exercises predominant influence. According to the current version of the treaty, the UK, Denmark and Ireland have the right to opt out of EU policies regarding justice and home affairs, but cannot prevent other member countries from moving ahead in these areas without them.

Members of the US intelligence community have also warned that the proposed Lisbon treaty could reduce the exchange of sensitive information between Washington and EU members. If the treaty is ratified, US officials would increasingly worry that individual EU governments would find it harder to keep any classified intelligence provided by Washington away from EU-wide institutions, and therefore all other EU member governments. Such widespread sharing would increase risks that hostile governments, terrorist operatives, or the media would learn sensitive US sources and methods.

US homeland security managers are also disturbed by the provisions of the Lisbon treaty that would remove many restrictions limiting the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice to rule on members' asylum, visa and immigration policies.

Members of President George W Bush's administration still complain about how the court struck down a deal they reached with the European Commission in 2004 to obtain the names of airline passengers traveling to the US. Despite the US' insistence that they needed to cross-check the names and addresses of people seeking to enter the US against its watch lists of suspected terrorists before the visitors actually reached US shores, the European Court, supported by many members of the European Parliament, ruled that such sharing would have violated EU privacy laws.

(c) 2008 Jane's Information Group

Jane's Intelligence Digest - January 18, 2008 - reference

Short version available on Janes's website here

See also see Village Voice Morning Report 3/8/05The Neocons' Wet Dream: John Bolton

Libertas responds to People Korps posting

Libertas have added the "Facts" page again buried somewhere in the bowels of their site. I can find no button link to it on their site.
I have sent Anita Kelly some further questions in order to clarify some points her email below has raised.

From: Libertas Communications
Date: 2009/1/28
Subject: Libertas
To: peoplekorps@gmail.com


Hello there

The "facts not politics" pages of the Libertas website has not been removed - it is still on there. It has been moved to the press section. Due to the high demand for this text from journalists and bloggers, we moved it to a newly created press office page. See: http://www.libertas.eu/press-office/facts. .
Best regards
Anita Kelly
Director of Communications
Libertas.eu
Tel: +32 2 743 XXXX/ +32 498 11 XXXX (phone numbers redacted by People Korps)

Please note: This email and any files transmitted with it is intended only for the named recipients and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy, use or disclose the contents of this communication to others and notify the sender immediately. Then please delete the email and any copies of it. Thank you.

Ganley removes Facts from Libertas website! Peoplekorps publishes them here.

Declan Ganley and his Libertas followers have removed the page called "Facts not politics"from their Libertas.eu website.
The page had originally been designed to counter the allegations and reality behind recent media claims made about Ganley. It attempted to answer questions about Ganley's involvment with Kosta Trebicka and the mystery of what happened to the Albanian "Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund" privasiation vouchers and money that Ganley collected in 1996 to 1998.

In 1997 Declan Ganley told the European magazine
'There has been a wariness on the part of big investors to weigh in to
these areas. My talent is spotting opportunities and vacuuming up the
assets.'
Source "Investor's Albanian fight." The European,March 13, 1997

There was at least one Albanian investor interviewed on Irish National broadcaster RTE's Primetime show who is aware of that talent. He still wonders waht happened to his life savings. You can watch Primetime on RTE's website Ganley Show on RTE

According to the European "A YOUNG Irish entrepreneur is trying to buy Dollars 350 million worth of privatisation vouchers in Albania - undeterred by the civil unrest in the country. The bid represents almost half the total book value the Albanian government has put on the assets it wants to privatise."

Two weeks later the San Francisco Chronicle reported
"Declan Ganley a 28-year-old Irishman, is trying to gather up $ 540 million
worth of privatization vouchers in Albania -- half the book value of
assets that the government wants to sell. Sixty thousand Albanians have
traded their vouchers for shares in Ganley's Anglo Adriatic investment fund."

Source : The San Francisco Chronicle MARCH 26, 1997, WEDNESDAY, FINAL EDITION NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE


Declan Ganley's first mention in the Observer came the same month when John Sweeney reported meeting Ganley on his way to Albania and then seeing him:
"Over by the bar chatting to some Albanian chancers is pink-fleshed
gimlet-eyed Declan Ganley, financier from the City of London. Ganley believes in the strength of the Albanian economy. He has to his company Anglo Adriatic does something with funds. I first met him ten days ago
at Rome airport when he was returning from New York to Tirana. He told
me all this mess is just your type hyping it up, Berisha is not in
trouble. All this country need is a couple of good PR men"
Source: "A daily rain falls on Tirana" by John Sweeney The Observer (1791- 2003). London (UK): Mar 16, 1997. p. C4

In May 1997 he claimed the fund would within a week be worth £220,000,000.
Source Underside Dan Atkinson The Guardian (1959-2003); Mar 21, 1997 pg. 24

I will publish the removed info from the Ganley Libertas Eu site below.
Why has Libertas removed this? Is it because this was the first time they put anything of substance on the record and realising that it would provide bench mark statements for comparison with the actual facts they decided the wisest course was to remove such statements?

An example of direct contradiction is the statement from Kosta Trebicka's wife who told RTE's Primetime she knew Mr. Ganley, worked for Anglo Adriatic Investmesnt Fund and also knew his brother Sean. Sean Ganley is a young man the meetings referred to happened recently and not in the 1990s. More on Sean in a later blog.
Ganley's Libertas site recently said
"In fact, Mr. Trebicka never had a personal relationship with Declan Ganley nor did Declan Ganley, to his knowledge, ever meet with Mr. Trebicka."
This has now been removed.

Is this a case of Politics not Facts from ganley?
Any ideas info please email peoplekorps@gmail.com

.


Facts not politics, learn the truth about Libertas
Source http://www.libertas.eu/facts Now deleted
"Libertas is a Eurosceptic organisation"

Libertas is not a Eurosceptic organisation. Libertas is passionately pro-European. We believe that the European Union is one of the most worthwhile, and laudable political projects in history, and we are proud to be able to make some contribution to its future success.

We believe that the growth in Euroscepticism over the past decade threatens the future of the European project. We believe that the widespread and justified concerns about the lack of democracy in the European Union must be addressed now, at this moment, if the project is to sustain the widespread support of the people of Europe, as it should.

Our vision is of a united Europe, which recognises and respects the right of citizens and nations to choose their own destinies, but which encourages all Europeans to reach across the borders of nationality, language, and culture to participate in and invigorate a Union which equips us to meet the challenges of this next phase of European History.

We do not see this ambition in Brussels today. Instead we see an unaccountable elite determined to bulldoze over the expressed will of the people of France, The Netherlands, Ireland and all the peoples of Europe. We see an out of touch clique that is unwilling to acknowledge that they are fuelling Euroscepticism by their unwillingness to listen, and change.

Libertas is not nor will ever be Eurosceptic, but we will listen to Eurosceptics and all other opinion groups with the utmost respect. We will not dismiss the concerns of voters and citizens, we will hear, respond and act upon them. Only by that road can the Europe we envision be created.

"Libertas shares the values of American Neo-Conservatives"

We absolutely do not.

Libertas believes in an international order based on respect and co-operation between the free peoples of the world.

"Declan Ganley made his money through the sale and supply of arms"

This is a poisonous lie. Declan Ganley is not, and never has been, involved in the arms trade. His career spans almost 20 years, starting in the early 1990's building business in the former Soviet Union's forestry and export sectors. His broadband telecommunications company, Broadnet, acquired wireless broadband licences in ten European countries in the 1990's. His current venture, Rivada Networks, is a specialist broadband emergency telecommunications provider which provides vital communications for front line emergency response workers, particularly in disaster scenarios such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and other emergency situations where police, fire, medical and military units need to communicate efficiently in order to save lives. Declan Ganley was awarded The Louisiana Distinguished Service Medal for his company's response to Hurricane Katrina. The medal citation credits his actions with saving lives in the aftermath of that natural disaster.

"Mr. Ganley has significant contracts with the US military"

Declan Ganley's company, Rivada Networks, provides highly specialised communications technology to emergency services. In the United States, some of these contracts are with the Department of Homeland Security, whose responsibility it is to protect American citizens against the effects of natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or other emergencies. Rivada also has contracts with police departments and state emergency services. It is when the National Guard and other branches of the military provide 'aid to the civil power' that Rivada has a role with them. Rivada's systems and services are not, nor ever have been, used in a war or conflict situation.

Rivada provides interoperable and integrated communications for multi-emergency responder collaboration - even where normal communications are disabled or destroyed.

"Mr. Ganley profited from the Invasion of Iraq"

This is not true. Declan Ganley did not profit from the invasion of Iraq. Like many European business leaders, Declan Ganley did look at a number of potential projects in Iraq in the telecommunications re-building sector. He formed a consortium that submitted a proposal for one of several mobile network build contracts but the consortium was not awarded a contract. Later he also worked on a project that considered options to build a police and emergency communications network but decided not to proceed with that effort. These projects were about the re-building of civil infrastructure in that country and were not in any way 'war' related.

"Libertas is a front for American Interests; it is funded by the CIA"

This is an outright lie and political slur. Neither Declan Ganley nor Libertas has ever had any connection with the CIA. Neither Declan Ganley, Libertas or any associate of Libertas have ever received any funding, support or contact of any kind from the CIA or any other similar entity. This rumour began when it was first raised in the form of a baseless 'question' by a limited number of unprincipled politicians on the 'Yes' side during the Irish referendum campaign. It was later added to in an irresponsible comment by Alain Juppé, the deputy French Foreign Minister, and subsequently by the leader of the Greens, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, and even the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering.

When Libertas became a campaigning organisation for the Irish referendum, Mr Ganley provided an initial loan facility to the organisation of €200,000 to enable it to begin a fundraising campaign. Loans for organisations such as Libertas are fully permissible under Irish law. Many Irish political parties have established loan arrangements in the past. Libertas will step up and continue to raise money across Europe from supporters in accordance with national and other relevant laws.

Libertas needs your help to fight the smears against our campaign.

"Mr. Ganley's involvement in Albania left many thousands impoverished"

This story is the result of false rumours and originates from unreliable Albanian web sites. In 1996, Declan Ganley was involved in the creation of the Anglo-Adriatic Investment fund. The fund's role was to help Albanian Citizens benefit from the privatisation of Albanian state assets during the transition period from Communism.

The Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund was never involved in the fraud associated with so-called pyramid banks or pyramid schemes. Indeed it actively campaigned against such pyramid schemes and called for them to be shut down.

Anglo-Adriatic was established as the only licensed 'privatisation voucher' fund-holding entity. The Albanian government were to identify a number of state-owned assets of appropriate value that were to be privatised by way of a voucher privatisation process. A limited number of vouchers were issued to almost every household in Albania and the concept was that the vouchers should be exchanged for a share of the assets to be privatised by the Albanian government.

The objective of the Anglo-Adriatic fund, as provided for in government legislation, was to pool privatisation vouchers owned by Albanian voucher holders and to enter into discussions with potential foreign investors who would bring cash, expertise and other assets. The result was intended to be privatised assets derived from the voucher holders' shares that had the benefit of external investment and know how to create added value for all shareholders.

Albanian voucher holders who took the option of pooling vouchers with Anglo Adriatic deposited their vouchers in the Savings Bank of Albania (the appointed custodian bank for Anglo Adriatic). This was part of the licensing conditions for Anglo Adriatic. That is to say, Anglo Adriatic could never actually physically hold those vouchers. Every single voucher placed into the fund in this manner is still in physical existence today in the bank vaults controlled by the Albanian Central Bank. Not one single voucher investor has 'lost' their holding as the holding exists and is secured in a vault belonging to Raiffeisen Bank under the control of the Albanian Central Bank. Anglo-Adriatic has made multiple attempts to have subsequent governments of Albania offer assets of appropriate value in exchange for those vouchers.

Unfortunately, the Albanian government has not done this to date. In deference to the Albanian government, there have been some mitigating circumstances. In 1997, the collapse of the aforementioned pyramid schemes led to massive civil unrest and a state of near civil war. This break down in civil law and order resulted in a mass evacuation of foreign nationals carried out by NATO forces including Italian, British, US, French and other forces. Anglo-Adriatic staff were airlifted by the US Marine Corps (who were responsible for securing the sector of Tirana where Anglo Adriatic's office was located) and flown to safety on the USS Nassau which was stationed in the Adriatic. It is hoped and anticipated that the Albanian government will eventually find an appropriate mechanism to honour and redeem the Anglo Adriatic related vouchers and thus provide those voucher holders with appropriate value for their holdings.

The Competition Department of Albania submitted the following comments to the OECD global forum on competition in 2004.

In our view point, the absence of competition culture in Albania constitutes the root cause of impediments to competition. After the approval of the law no. 8044 (7 December 1995) "On Competition", the competition structure has been established within the Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Trade. But from year 1995 to 2001, there has been no consistency in maintaining this structure in charge of enforcing the competition law. The very specific weaknesses of this competition structure include: lack of an appropriate legal framework, lack of an independent institution, lack of sufficient and qualified staff and lack of financial resources in conducting surveys for market data collection.

http://www.rekabet.gov.tr/word/uluslararasi/CD/OECD2008/Reports/GlobalForum-February2004.pdf

Who is Kosta Trebicka?

Kosta Trebicka died tragically on 9th September 2008 while driving his off-road vehicle over mountainous terrain in Eastern Bulgaria. Mr.Trebicka had come to public attention because he admirably 'blew the whistle' on alleged public corruption and arms dealing in Albania. He was a key witness in an important legal proceedings and his death was reported by the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/world/europe/13briefs-WHISTLEBLOWE_BRF.html?ref=world.

Put briefly, Mr. Trebicka revealed that old Chinese ammunition was supplied to the Afghan army by the US, using a company called AEY of Florida and an off-shore shell company. It was alleged that the ammunition was being sourced corruptly in an Albanian arms dump. See

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/world/asia/27ammo.html?_r=3&ref=washington&pagewanted=all

At about the same time (March 2008) an Albanian arms depot blew up near the village of Gerdec. This appalling disaster left 26 dead and 350 wounded. Some parts of the Albanian Press made a connection between the quality and storage conditions of the Albanian munitions at Gerdec and the stocks in the Afghan army supply scandal.

After the Irish referendum result and for reasons unknown to Libertas or Declan Ganley, a number of untrue stories began to appear that falsely claimed that an ongoing association existed between Mr. Trebicka and Declan Ganley. For example, on 10 August 2008, a web site called the Albanian Canadian League Information Service declared that

Mr. Trebicka and Mr. Kushi have been for a long time in constant contact with the President of Ganley Group, Declan Ganley, and still maintain a regular relationship with the manager of the fund Anglo-Adriatic", Declan Ganley". Mr. Trebicka is quoted as saying: "Yes, I have often meetings with Declan Ganley and his brother, talking often"

http://www.albca.com/aclis/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1469

In fact, Mr. Trebicka never had a personal relationship with Declan Ganley nor did Declan Ganley, to his knowledge, ever meet with Mr. Trebicka. It has even been claimed that Mr. Trebicka had a 'senior position' in Anglo Adriatic and that he was a director of Anglo Adriatic. All of these claims are untrue.

Libertas has conducted an inquiry into the facts behind these false claims. We have established that Mr. Trebicka was for some period of time in 1996 or 1997 an employee or consultant for the Albanian Savings Bank. In 1996, the Albanian Savings Bank had the largest branch network in the country and was contracted by Anglo-Adriatic to be the custodian of privatisation vouchers as required by law. As part of that role, the Savings bank collected and processed vouchers throughout their branch network. It seems most likely that Mr Trebicka worked for the savings bank in some sort of voucher processing role. Declan Ganley has no recollection of ever meeting Mr. Trebicka.

Libertas does not know why considerable effort has been expended on fabricating the appearance of a link between Declan Ganley and the late Mr. Trebicka. We presume it is to negatively affect Libertas efforts in campaigning for democracy and accountability at the heart of the Brussels establishment.

Conspiracy Theories

The concerns of the Brussels elite regarding Libertas can be seen in their true light in a piece called "Get Ganley!" written my Mark Mardell. See

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2008/10/get_ganley.html

Recently, Libertas has learned from reliable sources from within the European Parliament that a senior staff member of the Parliament has been fanning the flames of false news stories about Declan Ganley, circulating the resulting press-cuttings to select members who then treat the file contents as 'new evidence' of negative activities .

Libertas believes that people who live in the real world will see through the smears and attempted distraction and will listen to the arguments.

Source http://www.libertas.eu/facts Now deleted


Don Di Marino former Reagan aide and Ganley's business partner since "the early 1990s"

Irish Minister Dick Roche slams Libertas for spewing vitriolic empty rhetoric

"Libertas tendency to spew vitriolic empty rhetoric without out having a
single policy stance"

Ganley is slammed for his empty vitriol by Irish minister Dick Roche in a statement issued today. This follows an attack by Ganley on Roche where he seemed to blame him for the global financial downturn. Ganley should know it is not undemocratic to have a second vote on Lisbon under new conditions. What the outcome of that will be will be up to the Irish people. That is democratic. email peoplekorps@gmail.com

Ganley cannot deny the Irish people their right to review the Lisbon decision: Dick Roche Irish Minister for European Affairs 25/1/2009

Libertas' tendency to spew vitriolic empty rhetoric without out having a single policy stance on practical matters like education, health care,economics, is well illustrated by Declan Ganley's latest pronouncements. Ganley, as usual, substitutes personal abuse for political argument.

In the debate to date I have avoided dealing with Mr Ganley in a similar manner though, there are many questions about his style of business operations and personal attitudes that could well do with a public airing as the recent the Prime Time programme broadcast by RTE demonstrated.

Ganley's reckless disregard for the well-being of this country is illustrated by the absolute paucity of policy put forward by his new political party, Libertas.

To date in the only policy statement that has been made by Libertas, other than the fact that Ganley personally opposes the Lisbon, has been a statement about the party attempting to collect €75 million by way of contributions.

At no other time in the history of the Union have the economic pressures been so acute. At the very time when Europe needs to combine its efforts to deal with the worldwide economic challenges and Ganley espouses the division of the Union that has been at the very heart of Ireland's economic progress in recent years.

Rather than seek a united front to tackle the economic challenges we face, Ganley and Libertas seek to undermine and destroy the European Union at a time of turmoil that is leading to thousands of job losses in this country and millions of job losses globally.

The fact that the current global economic downturn had its origins in the freewheeling non-regulated market conditions that Ganley and his neoconservative ilk propagate seems to have passed straight over the man's head.

Ganley likes to preach about democracy but shows little understanding of our democracy. His latest comments were delivered from Spain yet when Mr Ganley chooses to talk about referendum results he conveniently forgets the result in the last Spanish referendum.

In a democracy people have the right to revisit democratic decisions. Particularly where the circumstances have changed. The Irish government on behalf of the Irish people is now engaged in detailed negotiations with the European colleagues. These negotiations are aimed at producing legally binding agreements which will address the concerns expressed by the Irish people in the most recent Irish referendum. The Irish government has already won a major victory on behalf of the Irish people in persuading EU colleagues to agree that in the event of the Lisbon Treaty being ratified, the very element in the Treaty which Ganley himself sought to dismiss will be used to guarantee an Irish Commissioner into the future.

When the negotiations are completed and the necessary guarantees have been agreed the Irish people have a right to give their opinion on the changes and no self appointed individual such as Mr Ganley has the right to deny the Irish people the opportunity to give their judgement on the new arrangements and on Ireland's continued relationship with the European Union.

ENDS

Libertas statement clash Ganley contradicts Libertas staff again

Libertas spokeperson who was contradicted by Ganley this week was Anita Kelly

This is similar to the denials by Ganley that Naoise Nunn former Libertas campaign director who said that he had been paid by Rivada to work on Libertas which Ganley denied.

Rivada Networks is Ganley's military communications company. Its main clients through its subsidery Rivada Pacific are the Us Defence Dept.
This is obviously why Declan wanted to contradict Nunn.





Lidovky.cz: Czech MEP's Libertas appears without Ganley's knowledge
ČTK / JANUARY 23, 2009
Prague, Jan 22 (CTK) - Czech MEP Vladimir Zelezny registered its
Libertas.cz political party without the knowledge of Declan Ganley,
Irish opponent of the EU reform Lisbon treaty and founder of the
Libertas movement, the Lidovky.cz server has said.
According to the server, Ganley has confirmed in a press release that
Libertas.cz was established in the Czech Republic but without his
knowledge.
Zelezny did not register the Libertas.cz trademark at the request of
the mother Libertas movement based in Dublin or Brussels. He did it
out of admiration and in support of the Libertas project that is known
in the whole of Europe, the server quotes Ganley's statement as
saying.
According to Lidovky.cz, Ganley also said in the press release that he
did not ask Zelezny to lead the Libertas.cz list of candidates for the
European Parliament elections or to help his movement in its campaign.
Zelezny has not yet commented on the server information.
However, Anita Kelly, spokeswoman for the pan-European Libertas
movement, told the Czech daily Lidove noviny on Tuesday that Zelezny's
movement was Libertas's branch.
Zelezny is chairman of the extra-parliamentary Independent Democrats movement.
His aide in the European Parliament, Martina Rozsivalova, said on
Tuesday that Zelezny was one of the signatories of the document on the
establishment of the pan-European Libertas.eu.
Signatures of a certain number of members of the European Parliament
and national parliaments were necessary to establish the party.
Rozsivalova said Libertas.eu was still being formed.
On Monday, the new Czech right-wing Party of Free Citizens (SSO) also
asked the Interior Ministry for registration, its founder Petr Mach,
who is Centre for Economics and Politics (CEP) executive director, has
confirmed.
Mach, a close collaborator of President Vaclav Klaus who is famous for
his Euroscepticism, said his party also wanted to cooperate with
Ganley's Libertas, the movement of Irish opponents of the Lisbon
treaty.

If you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas! Who are the real Libertas?

With a new Libertas party legally registered in the UK and in Czech republic I note that Ganley's Libertas are still collecting funds form the UK and Czech Republic on their website. Here and Here

What are they going to do with these funds? Share them with the Eurosceptic Libertas CZ and Libertas UK or keep them for the Europhile Ganley Libertas? Is that above board? Surely a UK
citizen might think they are donating to their own legitimately registered Libertas and give Ganley's party cash as their site has a page specially for a political party Libertas.uk? Could that get them in trouble for passing off or deception?

UK Libertas registration

Further developments emerge from the Irish Times today 23 Jan 2009. Earlier this week the Brussels office of Ganley's Libertas stated that
"the former media
mogul Mr. Zelezny had registered the Czech branch of the organisation
“with the knowledge” of Libertas, a comment that was published by The Irish Times."
.

Ganley said "[...] this was not true and accused this newspaper (The Irish Times) of trying to attach his name to “a Eurosceptic agenda”.

Blame the messenger Declan?

Hang on Declan your own office confirmed it. Is the Irish Times part of the European elite? Do people in Libertas not talk to each other? It seems any media outlet that upsets Mr Ganley with questions and hopes for transparency are being branded as part of a plot to make him appear Eurosceptic, or in the case of RTE dodgy.
It is funny that Ganley blames the Irish Times for trying to attach the Ganley name to Eurosceptics when his own office confirmed the same earlier in the week.
Then again Declan did host a dinner for Eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus and has been courting the Eurosceptic far right across Europe. How many more accusations and denials will there be before they start to give straight answers?

It is clear that there is a big problem for the Libertas brand with pro European and Eurosceptic parties. The European wing led by Ganley do not seem to able to get together and get their stories straight.
It is funny that Ganley blames the Irish Times for trying to attach the Ganley name to Eurosceptics when his own office confirmed the same earlier in the week.
Then again Declan did host a dinner for Eurosceptic Vaclav Klaus and has been courting the far right in across Europe. How many more accusations and denials will there be before they start to give straight answers?

Libertas faces UK electoral hurdle over party name

LIBERTAS HAS hit an unexpected hurdle in Britain because a close associate of a rival political party has already registered Libertas UK with the electoral commission.

Bridget Rowe, a friend of UK Independence Party chief Nigel Farage, is listed as the leader of Libertas UK on the electoral commission’s website. The party was registered on December 19th, 2008 and is expected to field candidates in England, says the commission.

An electoral commission spokesman said yesterday one of the criteria for successfully registering a political party in Britain was that no party with the same name already existed on the commission’s list.

It is now unclear whether Declan Ganley’s Libertas, which wants to field candidates in Britain in the upcoming European elections, will be able to compete under its Libertas brand.

A Libertas spokesman refused to comment on the registration issue yesterday. Mr Ganley also moved quickly to distance himself from controversial Czech MEP Vladimir Zelezny, who last week registered Libertas as a party in the Czech Republic.

Mr Ganley, who wants to set up Libertas branches in all 27 EU states ahead of the June elections, issued a press release yesterday stating that he had not “recruited” Mr Zelezny.

Mr Zelezny is a controversial character in the Czech Republic, where he has been convicted of tax evasion and is the subject of several investigations by the authorities. He told a Prague radio station last year he is a “fierce eurosceptic”, adding that the EU’s “over-regulated environment strongly resembles what we know from our communist past”.

A Libertas spokeswoman in Brussels said this week the former media mogul Mr Zelezny had registered the Czech branch of the organisation “with the knowledge” of Libertas, a comment that was published by The Irish Times.

Mr Ganley said yesterday this was not true and accused this newspaper of trying to attach his name to “a Eurosceptic agenda”.

“Mr Ganley said that while Mr Zelezny had registered the name Libertas in the Czech Republic, this action was not done on the request of Libertas in either Dublin or Brussels, and indicated nothing more than the enthusiasm of support for the Libertas project being expressed by people across the continent,” said the statement.

“Mr Zelezny had not, as implied in the report, been asked to stand in the European elections by Libertas, or in fact been the recipient of any specific request from Libertas in relation to its campaign, nor had he been the subject of any announcement made by Libertas, as reported,” it added.

Asked to clarify what relationship Libertas and Mr Zelezny currently enjoy, or will have in the future, Libertas refused to comment yesterday. The party also refused to speculate on whether it would run Libertas candidates under the party registered by Mr Zelezny. Mr Zelezny also refused to return phone calls made by The Irish Times yesterday.

Irish Times

Declan Ganley of Libertas silencing free speech and a free press by issuing spurious threats of legal action?

Ganley says he'll sue!all the time!
where are the actions?

Declan Ganley likes to talk about openness, democracy & transparency – but
does not always accept a central feature of an open democracy – the right to hold an
opinion that differs from Ganley's own.
Declan Ganley frequently threatens
litigation. In this he is travelling the same path as James Goldsmith
another rich Europhobe who used the threat of Court action to silence
opponents.

1. In the last week of November 2008, Ganley's solicitors issued
threats of legal action to Irish politicians, including Joe Costello
of the Irish Labour Party. This follows comments by Costello regarding
Libertas funding. According to the Irish Times "Mr Ganley has
threatened to sue Mr Costello for substantial damages, following Mr
Costello's charge that the Libertas founder has "a subversive foreign
agenda".

2. Ganley also threatened to sue Jim Higgins MEP

3. Ganley has issued several threats to take on journalists incl the
RTE team that produced the Prime Time special

4 Irish Times journalist and long time reporter on Declan Ganley's strange affairs
Colm Keena has been threatened with legal action.

5. In May 1999 he threatened to sue the Irish state on being told that the
the representitives of the Irish government would not continue discussions on
Ganley' s purchase of a fertilizer plant IFI in Co. Wicklow. When told that the
state was not interested in further discussions on his plans for IFI Ganley
got very pissed off and said siad he would go to the Courts for redress.
Told by a director at IFI, that "… that the shareholders had jointly decided
to stop discussions with Grande Portage and that they were reassessing the
options available to them. "[Ganley] replied by saying, 'It was going
to get interesting and this was not good enough.' He said he would
pass on the matter to his solicitors and he was not going to sit back
and let this all happen.' Ganley added 'I will take legal action and
this will end up somewhere in the High Court.' Ganley never sued. See
Fertiliser bomb ignited Ganley's anger, Sunday Tribune 19 January
2009. reproduced below

6. He did commence an action against the Irish state on the mobile phone
license – his bid was the lowest scoring in the contest – the case was
ultimately thrown out.

7. Action has even been threatened against people posting messages on
Politics.ie, a website controlled by one of his associates David Cochrane
an employee of Libertas who owns and runs the site with Ganley
promotion in mind.

Fertiliser bomb ignited Ganley's anger
Public Affairs
Ken Foxe reports

Sunday Tribune

Declan Ganley and Albania. Transparency or just the same old Elites?

Article from an Albanian perspective on Declan Ganley and his Ganley International , Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund. This article alleges collusion between Ganley's AAIF and the Albanian Government and asserts the funds were used as leverage for Bulgarian business Cable net.
Ganley' s business affairs are fascinating if not transparent.
People Korps

Rinascita Balcanica, 14.04.08

"Albanians gambled on the stock exchange."

by
Alketa Alibali


The shares of 45 thousand share holders of the financial concern Anglo Adriatika where "played with" on international stock exchanges by the directors of the foundation. This is according to official sources of the "Ganley Group" who explain that the company succeeded to gather 45 thousand share holders through the Anglo Adriatika foundation in Albania, amassing a capital of about 120 million US dollars in 1997. A declaration by the organism dealing with privatisations of Albanian public property indicates that the Irish group used the issuing of vouchers to place the amount as the company's own funds on international markets. But in reality, they represented 120 millions transferred by 45 thousand Albanians, described as the shares of the "Ganley Group".


The Irish company "Ganley Group" has collected the 1997 120 million dollars in he market for savings, thereby enrolling 45 thousand Albanian shareholders through the Anglo-Adriatika foundation in Albania. The Irish group acquired such securities, as their own property and then sold them on international markets as values representative of the company.


In 1997 "Anglo-Adriatika" deposited securities at the former Bank for Savings in anticipation of the privatisation of strategic companies in Albania. In the same year, the Ganley Group declared that it held 120 million dollars of "Anglo-Adriatika", and deposited, in collaboration with officials of the Bank for Savings, a certificate that guaranteed the ownership of shares, and granted the right to sell them on. We are talking about an amount of around 160 million dollars, at present dollar values, whereas when it was made when the dollar was quoted at 133 lek. The Albanian financial concern which got the first licence to exercise such activities in April 1996, was the Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund controlled 90% by Ganley Group and 10% Rothschild Emerging Markets.


The manoeuvres with the bond privatization came to light in September 2007, during a trial conducted against him in Ireland, highlighting the "dark" collaboration between the Albanian Government and heads of the "Anglo-Adriatika." The court discovered in fact a kind of collaboration between the "Meksi" government and the head of "Ganley Group, Declan Ganley, who had acted as mediator to finance a number of Irish Members of Parliament to help the Albanian government to avoid the collapse of the financial pyramid schemes. According to Irish media, the same Declan Ganley declared before the courts that he brought Deputy Liam Lawlor to Albania, and while there was paid a fee of 340 thousand U.S. dollars by the Albanian government.


But the interest of the judges falls, especially on an Mr Frank Dunlop (Irish), who is thought to have favoured an Irish company in return for the aid and assistance offered to the Albanian Government. This version has always been denied by the President of Anglo-Adriatika, which denies any involvement with Mr Lawlor, or with the Albanian deputy, who is thought to have favoured the increase in shares of the company "VAT".


Currently the Ganley Group continues its activities in Galway in Ireland, with offices in all countries of Europe excluding Albania, and operates on a wide variety of activities worldwide, such as transport, telecommunications and by controlling interests in Rivada, Broadnet and Cable Bulgaria. But the history of the Ganley Group begins with the experience of Declan Ganley at the age of 21 years in Russia, entering the industrial business through the stock exchange in the iron, and a number of other companies, sold at a later time to the "Soros" foundation.

After gathering money in Albania in 1997 through the Anglo-Adriatika, Ganley buys shares of telecommunications companies in Bulgaria and creates Bulgarian Broadnet, a cable television service within the countries of Eastern Europe, with a total investment of approximately 300 million dollars, with an operation which suggests that it most likely was financed partly by the shares of Anglo-Adriatika, presented as assets of Ganley Group on international stock exchanges.

In 1998 he takes the first steps to create the Albanian stock market, sponsoring a regional meeting in Struga (Macedonia), with the participation of senior officials from the Albanian and Macedonian governments. In the same year, Don de Marino (Executive Director of the Fund) is the leading organizer of the "Strategic Conference in Albania." At the same time, the Canadian company "Grand Portage Resources", with the intermediation of Anglo-Adriatic Found, acquires the exclusive joint exploitation of Lake Delvina, thanks to an agreement with Albpetrol.

Next begins the escalation of Anglo-Adriatika by the activation of the shareholders vouchers in mass privatisation, based on the privatisation law approved by the Albanian Parliament in 1998 and the beginning of twinning activity between the Albanian stock market with the Western stock markets, in accordance with the plans of the Anglo-Adriatic.

In 1999, Declan Ganley brings to Tirana a group of powerful investors from"Hyatt Hotels", whom he promised the backing of the Albanian government. At the same time Anglo-Adriatika brings to Tirana the American telecommunications company "Milicom" to participate in the tender for the sale of AMC.
In survey conducted by the newspaper "Albania", it appears that the prominent representatives of the foundation were Pirro Kushi and Kosta Trebicka, today known as entrepreneurs. Of the two, however, Trebicka is now known to the general Albanian public for his involvement in the scandal of the acquisition of weapons for the Pentagon. Trebicka and Kushi have for a long time in constant contact with the President of Ganley Group, Declan Ganley, and still maintain a regular relationship with the manager of the Anglo-Adriatic fund, Declan Ganley. "Yes, I often had meetings with Declan Ganley and his brother, we speak often - declares Trebicka in the newspaper 'Albania' - "we also speak of the 'Anglo-Adriatic' fund, and I do not agree with some media which have presented it as a business linked to Greek interests".

On the role of Don de Marino, the Albanian newspaper says that in addition to being a board member of one of Declan Ganley's companies, he is also a very powerful businessman, linked to the Bush family and President of the Saudi-American Chamber of Commerce. As shown by the newspaper, Don de Marino was also Executive Director of Anglo-Adriatika, and in 2000 was in Tirana seeking to reactivated the share vouchers and threatening the Albanian government with an international legal action, but without any great results. Finally, it must be noted that de Don Marino and Declan Ganley asked insistently in 1996 that the Tirana stock market be opened, seen as an important to quote at the international level the securities of "Anglo Adriatic." "Yes, I have excellent relations with him - confirmed Trebicka - I do not understand what's wrong on this. Of course, it is true that he is a very influential person, and it is also true that Don Marino also has many friends at the Pentagon."

A mystery remains about the 120 million dollars belonging toAlbanian citizens, even though in 2006 the Parliamentary Commission for Economy and Finance decided to open an deep inquiry into Anglo-Adriatika, questioning even Governor Fullani. It is not known, therefore, whether the "Anglo-Adriatika" or "Ganley Group" have bought property in other countries through the "unlawful use the stock of financial securities of Anglo-Adriatika." Certainly, Albanian citizens' money from a financial harvest at a time when all financial pyramids were about to collapse, was re-invested in industrial activities, more or less speculative, a foreign financial group, with the full complicity of the Government and Institutions.

Alketa Alibali

Article
NB Libertas.eu did have a "facts" page attempting to refute some of the issues raised here but they have taken the page down. Some cedit for this may be claimed by People Korps who used Libertas employee David Cochrane's Politics.ie board to show the lack of credibility.