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Conservative peer Lord James of Blackheath has said that he was appointed by the Bank of England to "deal with problems" caused by the laundering of IRA money.
Addressing fellow peers late on Monday night Lord James said:
"I have had one of the biggest experiences in the laundering of terrorist money and funny money that anyone has had in the City. I have handled billions of pounds of terrorist money."
Labour peer Baroness Hollis of Heigham asked: "Where did it go to?"
Lord James, a respected corporate troubleshooter, replied: "Not into my pocket. My biggest terrorist client was the IRA and I am pleased to say that I managed to write off more than £1billion of its money.
"I have also had extensive connections with north African terrorists, but that was of a far nastier nature, and I do not want to talk about that because it is still a security issue. I hasten to add that it is no good getting the police in, because I shall immediately call the Bank of England as my defence witness, given that it put me in to deal with these problems."
However Lord James said today that he had not intended to imply he had done anything improper.
He told technology and business website ZDNet UK that he had been brought into five companies between 1989 and 1997/98 at the direction of the Bank of England.
Lord James' express instructions were to run the companies down and liquidise the assets as they had been identified as conduits for IRA funds.
"The IRA had five companies completely ruined. They had built the companies up as pensions funds.
"I'm a money washer, not a money launderer," he said.
Shadowy Foundation X will pay UK debt
The life-peer also told colleagues during Monday's address that a shadowy group has contacted him with an offer to help solve the UK's economic problems.
Lord James claims the group, which he referred to as 'Foundation X', has more gold on hand than all the world's bullion reserves combined. He said the group has offered to give the UK £5bn immediately and another £17bn for schools, hospitals and London's crossrail project.
"I have come to the absolute conclusion that foundation X is completely genuine and sincere and that it directly wishes to make the United Kingdom one of the principal points that it will use to disseminate its extraordinarily great wealth into the world at this present moment, as part of an attempt to seek the recovery of the global economy."
Lord James said he has been investigating this group for the last 20 weeks during which time he has consulted with Lord Sassoon, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and who sits in the Cabinet and Lord Strathclyde who leads the Conservative party in the House of Lords. Lord James said that after this 20 week probe he is convinced that 'Foundation X' is 'absolutely genuine and sincere'.
"For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords [Sassoon and Strathclyde], in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organisation which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country.
"For want of a better name, I shall call it Foundation X. That is not its real name, but it will do for the moment. Foundation X was introduced to me 20 weeks ago last week by an eminent City firm, which is FSA controlled. Its chairman came to me and said, 'We have this extraordinary request to assist in a major financial reconstruction. It is megabucks, but we need your help to assist us in understanding whether this business is legitimate'?"
"Foundation X is saying at this moment that it is prepared to put up the entire £5 billion for the funding of the three Is recreation; the British Government can have the entire independent management and control of it—foundation X does not want anything to do with it; there will be no interest charged; and, by the way, if the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, the foundation will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas, if requested, and all these other things.
"These things can be done, if wished, but a senior member of the Government has to accept the invitation to a phone call to the chairman of foundation X—and then we can get into business."
Lord James ended his speech saying: "This is too big an issue. I am just an ageing, obsessive old Peer and I am easily dispensable, but getting to the truth is not. We need to know what really is happening here. We must find out the truth of this situation."
His address lasted over 15-minutes before proceedings moved on.
Lord James of Blackheath told ZDNet UK that 'Foundation X' is to his knowledge a viable organisation.
Bloggers have speculated that 'Foundation X' was the "United Nations Office of International Treasury Control" (UNOITC). Lord James said he had not been approached by UNOITC and that no links exist between Foundation X and UNOITC.
Background
Lord James is a City grandee, whose career spans five recessions and has been corporate restructuring expert for over 30 years. He is an adviser for Cerberus Capital Management, a US private equity house and distressed debt investor, that tried to bid for Northern Rock.
He has also been involved with restructuring of Lloyd's of London in the 1980s, the Eagle Trust - the manufacturer involved in the Iraqi supergun affair, and the doomed Millennium Dome.
In 2005 he was appointed as an adviser to Michael Howard, awarded the CBE in 1992 and made a life baron in 2006. Read more at Wikipedia
Video and transcript
The full transcript of the proceedings is listed in the official parliamentary records Hansard here.
A video of the speech is available to view below. Lord James begins his address at around 2 hours 27 minutes in.
Addressing fellow peers late on Monday night Lord James said:
"I have had one of the biggest experiences in the laundering of terrorist money and funny money that anyone has had in the City. I have handled billions of pounds of terrorist money."
Labour peer Baroness Hollis of Heigham asked: "Where did it go to?"
Lord James, a respected corporate troubleshooter, replied: "Not into my pocket. My biggest terrorist client was the IRA and I am pleased to say that I managed to write off more than £1billion of its money.
"I have also had extensive connections with north African terrorists, but that was of a far nastier nature, and I do not want to talk about that because it is still a security issue. I hasten to add that it is no good getting the police in, because I shall immediately call the Bank of England as my defence witness, given that it put me in to deal with these problems."
However Lord James said today that he had not intended to imply he had done anything improper.
He told technology and business website ZDNet UK that he had been brought into five companies between 1989 and 1997/98 at the direction of the Bank of England.
Lord James' express instructions were to run the companies down and liquidise the assets as they had been identified as conduits for IRA funds.
"The IRA had five companies completely ruined. They had built the companies up as pensions funds.
"I'm a money washer, not a money launderer," he said.
Shadowy Foundation X will pay UK debt
The life-peer also told colleagues during Monday's address that a shadowy group has contacted him with an offer to help solve the UK's economic problems.
Lord James claims the group, which he referred to as 'Foundation X', has more gold on hand than all the world's bullion reserves combined. He said the group has offered to give the UK £5bn immediately and another £17bn for schools, hospitals and London's crossrail project.
"I have come to the absolute conclusion that foundation X is completely genuine and sincere and that it directly wishes to make the United Kingdom one of the principal points that it will use to disseminate its extraordinarily great wealth into the world at this present moment, as part of an attempt to seek the recovery of the global economy."
Lord James said he has been investigating this group for the last 20 weeks during which time he has consulted with Lord Sassoon, Commercial Secretary to the Treasury and who sits in the Cabinet and Lord Strathclyde who leads the Conservative party in the House of Lords. Lord James said that after this 20 week probe he is convinced that 'Foundation X' is 'absolutely genuine and sincere'.
"For the past 20 weeks I have been engaged in a very strange dialogue with the two noble Lords [Sassoon and Strathclyde], in the course of which I have been trying to bring to their attention the willing availability of a strange organisation which wishes to make a great deal of money available to assist the recovery of the economy in this country.
"For want of a better name, I shall call it Foundation X. That is not its real name, but it will do for the moment. Foundation X was introduced to me 20 weeks ago last week by an eminent City firm, which is FSA controlled. Its chairman came to me and said, 'We have this extraordinary request to assist in a major financial reconstruction. It is megabucks, but we need your help to assist us in understanding whether this business is legitimate'?"
"Foundation X is saying at this moment that it is prepared to put up the entire £5 billion for the funding of the three Is recreation; the British Government can have the entire independent management and control of it—foundation X does not want anything to do with it; there will be no interest charged; and, by the way, if the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, the foundation will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas, if requested, and all these other things.
"These things can be done, if wished, but a senior member of the Government has to accept the invitation to a phone call to the chairman of foundation X—and then we can get into business."
Lord James ended his speech saying: "This is too big an issue. I am just an ageing, obsessive old Peer and I am easily dispensable, but getting to the truth is not. We need to know what really is happening here. We must find out the truth of this situation."
His address lasted over 15-minutes before proceedings moved on.
Lord James of Blackheath told ZDNet UK that 'Foundation X' is to his knowledge a viable organisation.
Bloggers have speculated that 'Foundation X' was the "United Nations Office of International Treasury Control" (UNOITC). Lord James said he had not been approached by UNOITC and that no links exist between Foundation X and UNOITC.
Background
Lord James is a City grandee, whose career spans five recessions and has been corporate restructuring expert for over 30 years. He is an adviser for Cerberus Capital Management, a US private equity house and distressed debt investor, that tried to bid for Northern Rock.
He has also been involved with restructuring of Lloyd's of London in the 1980s, the Eagle Trust - the manufacturer involved in the Iraqi supergun affair, and the doomed Millennium Dome.
In 2005 he was appointed as an adviser to Michael Howard, awarded the CBE in 1992 and made a life baron in 2006. Read more at Wikipedia
Video and transcript
The full transcript of the proceedings is listed in the official parliamentary records Hansard here.
A video of the speech is available to view below. Lord James begins his address at around 2 hours 27 minutes in.
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