Sadiq Khan, Liberty, Liberty's auditor, Rakesh Shaunak, Rishi Sunak and The Captain Tom Foundation.

Sadiq Khan due diligence part 2.

I began a due diligence report on Sadiq Khan and found that he was registered in Companies House as a director of The National Council for Civil Liberties, from June 1997 to July 2004, and The Civil Liberties Trust, from September 2001 to July 2004, and another company, L.A.G. Education and Service Trust Limited (that I haven’t looked into, yet), see image 1.

Image 1. Sadiq Khan’s appointments in Companies House.

The auditor of The National Council for Civil Liberties and The Civil Liberties Trust, is MHA MacIntyre Hudson, image 2.

Image 2. The Civil Liberties Trust 2022 Auditors’ report.

The partner and group chairman of MHA MacIntyre Hudson, (and a lead partner of Baker Tilly International), is Rakesh Shaunak, see image 3. Rakesh Shaunak is presently being investigated by the Financial Reporting Council because he signed off the accounts for “the former Kazakh dictator (Nursultan Nazarbayev, who) controlled £6bn empire from Britain”, as reported by The Telegraph in collaboration with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Nazarbayev is described as “a key ally of Vladimir Putin.”

Foundations linked to the notorious autocrat, who was in office until 2019, controlled $7.8bn (£5.8bn) in assets via Jusan Technologies. The empire was restructured last year and is now controlled via the United States. (Matt Oliver, Ed Siddons, Franz Wild, Simon Lock, February 17 2022).

Image 3. Rakesh Shaunak, chairman of MHA MacIntyre Hudson.

Quoting from the Telegraph’s partner, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, (because it is free to read, and is written by the same authors):

The company (Jusen Technologies) was registered in March 2020 by the US law firm Cohen & Gresser and its most recent filed accounts were signed off in August 2021 by Rakesh Shaunak, the chairman and managing partner of MHA MacIntyre Hudson, a UK auditor. MacIntyre Hudson was paid $462,000 by the company for the audit and other work during 2020.

MacIntyre Hudson is under investigation by the Financial Reporting Council for its audits of another company in 2018 and 2019. It has confirmed it is co-operating with the investigation. (Ed Siddons , Simon Lock , Franz Wild , Matt Oliver, February 17 2022).

MacIntyre Hudson is also under investigation, as reported by the Financial Times, because it “caught the attention of larger rivals by taking on the audits of FTSE 250 mining groups operating in Ukraine and Russia that were dropped as clients by Big Four firms.” So;

The UK accounting regulator has launched an investigation into audits by mid-tier firm MHA MacIntyre Hudson of a subsidiary of commodities business Monaco Resources Group. The Financial Reporting Council said its investigation would cover MHA’s audits of the financial statements of MRG Finance UK for 2018 and 2019. (Michael O’Dwyer January 7 2022)

I am unable to find any report of the outcome of either of these investigations.

MacIntyre Hudson is a company that I’ve encountered twice; as a result of due diligence on Rishi Sunak and the East London Science School, and, due diligence on The Captain Tom Foundation. Quoting from my report on Rishi Sunak (January 2023):

Observations of audit irregularities by MHA MacIntyre Hudson LLP 2014-2016. The Annual Report and Financial Statements, for the period during which Rishi Sunak was active, were viewed, in the filing history, see EAST LONDON SCIENCE SCHOOL TRUST filing history, and the following instances of non-compliance with the Companies Act 2006 are noted.

In the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 August 2014:

• Sunak's name is misspelt, three times, as Saunak (pages 1, 10 and 11).

• The Independent Audit Report is signed by Rakesh Shaunak FCA, MHA MacIntyre Hudson, Chartered Accountants, New Bridge Street House, 30-34 New Bridge Street, London EC4V 6BJ (page 16). His signature is not dated.

• The Independent Reporting Accountant’s Assurance Report on Regularity, was neither signed nor dated (page 18).

In the Trustees Report and Financial Statements year ended 31 August 2015:

• Rishi Sunak’s name is spelt correctly on page 1 and 9, but as Saunak on page 10.

• Pages 8 and 12-14, 16, 18 are visibly replacement pages, not part of the original report, signified by the hand written Trust at the top of each page, which was typed, in the original report.

• Page 21 uses a different heading style and appears to have been faxed.

Auditor of the East London Science School Trust 2014-2020, Rakesh Shaunak Rakesh Shaunak audited the East London Science School Trust, signing the Accounts made up to 31 August 2014 through to 2020 on behalf of MHA MacIntyre Hudson. A search on Rakesh Shaunak’s name in Companies House returns 3 identities, see Rakesh Shaunak search on name (image 4). One of these identities has active appointments; a total of 24 appointments, [now 29] of which 19 [now 19] are active, see Rakesh SHAUNAK personal appointments – Identity 1 of 3.

Image 4. Rakesh Shaunak - three registered identities in Companies House.

Establishing multiple identities in Companies House is deceptive because interests held in one identity are excluded from audits and due diligence of another identity. For openness, transparency and accountability it is important that an individual only registers one identity, otherwise they are purporting to be multiple people. By registering additional identities the statement “Total number of appointments 24” becomes misinformation. Audit protocols and software, presently, do not prompt the researcher to check for other identities.

I also encountered MacIntyre Hudson as the auditor of the lawyers who represent The Captain Tom Foundation. Recall that on 30 June 2022 the Charity Commission announced:

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into The Captain Tom Foundation, after identifying concerns about the charity’s management, including about the charity’s independence from the family of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore and businesses connected to them.

Returning to The Civil Liberties Trust, it is registered as a charity. It funds, and is the landlord of, The National Council for Civil Liberties, which is commonly known as “Liberty”. I looked at The Civil Liberties Trust’s accounts for 2021 and noted that they record "£20,000 donation from Transport for London.” (see image 5).

Image 5. The Civil Liberties Trust analysis of grants receivable.

The £20,000 donation is not mentioned in TfL’s 2020-2021 accounts or the 2021-2022 accounts. Sadiq Khan does not disclose his prior directorship of The Civil Liberties Trust in his TfL biography. Committee meeting minutes were accessed for 2021 and no mention of this donation from TfL could be located.

I made a Freedom Of Information request to TfL, about this transaction and whether Sadiq Khan had declared that he had been a director of the company receiving the donation. TfL has responded, see image 6, that they “could not find any (payments) to the organisation in question (The Civil Liberties Trust)”. They do not keep a record of past directorships. This is problematic because conflicts of interest are not time bound.

Image 6. FOI response from Transport for London regarding donation to The Civil Liberties Trust.

To recap, two companies that Sadiq Khan was a director of, from 2001 to 2004, are currently audited by MHA MacIntyre Hudson. This is the same company that audited the accounts of the East London Science School Trust, when Rishi Sunak was a director. There were anomalies with those accounts and it was the chairman of MHA MacIntyre Hudson, Rakesh Shaunak, who signed the Audit Report. He and his company are under investigation by the Financial Reporting Council relating to his audits of the former Kazakh dictator, Nursultan Nazarbayev, of Jusan Technologies, who is described, in the Telegraph as “a key ally of Vladamir Putin”. MHA MacIntyre Hudson is also under investigation after “taking on the audits of FTSE 250 mining groups operating in Ukraine and Russia that were dropped as clients by Big Four firms.” In addition, MHA MacIntyre Hudson is the auditor of the lawyer of The Captain Tom Foundation, which is under investigation by the Charity Commission

In these circumstances and given the war between Russia and Ukraine, it is surprising that The Civil Liberties Trust find that MHA is a suitable party to be its auditor. The risk that these common auditing relationships indicate, even though they are separated by time, is that these people are possibly members of a cartel that has positioned itself into Parliament and other positions of control.

I am very concerned about Rakesh Shaunak’s link to Rishi Sunak. The references to Saunak, instead of Sunak, in the East London Science School Trust accounts, and the resemblance, see image 7, make me wonder whether Rishi Sunak and Rakesh Shaunak are familiarly related parties, as well as being related parties due to the auditing relationship.

Rakesh Shaunak’s link to 1)Putin’s ally, 2) Ukraine and Russian mining groups, 3) Rishi Sunak and The East London Science School and 4) Sadiq Khan’s past (as director) and current interest (via TfL donation) in The Civil Liberties Trust and Liberty, and, 5) The Captain Tom Foundation, represents a potential risk to public security. Their mutual interests presents the risk, for example, that there is collaboration between Rakesh Shaunak, Rishi Sunak and Sadiq Khan. And/or, that funds from The Captain Tom Foundation are being used to fund controlled acts of war, in Russia and Ukraine.

In my opinion, DNA tests, done simultaneously, would answer the question of whether Rishi Sunak and Rakesh Shaunak are related parties.

Image 7. Rakesh Shaunak and Rishi Sunak - related parties?

I’ve tried to get this and several other cases investigated by the police. However, the police redirect me to Action Fraud, which is the gatekeeper of fraud investigations and this service is delivered by the City of London Police. I’ll expand on the problem with this situation in an article about the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC), and their companies; Bluelight Commercial and Police Digital Service (coming soon).

Summary

Sadiq Khan, was a director of The Council for Civil Liberties (Liberty) and The Civil Liberties Trust, he is now the chair of Transport for London, as one of his Mayoral roles. The Civil Liberties Trust accounts record receiving £20,000 donation from Transport for London in 2021. Sadiq Khan does not disclose these prior directorships on the TfL website, in his biography. Transport for London deny giving The Civil Liberties Trust £20,000 and I am awaiting a response from The Civil Liberties Trust, to show where this money came from.

The Civil Liberties Trust and Liberty are audited by MHA MacIntyre Hudson. The chairman of these auditors, Rakesh Shaunak, is being investigated by the Financial Reporting Council since he signed off the previous Kazakh dictator's accounts and he’s been auditing mining groups operating in Ukraine and Russia. He was also the auditor of the East London Science School Trust, when Rishi Sunak was a director (2014-2016). There were audit anomalies there, too, including calling Sunak "Saunak". This begs the questions; Are Rishi Sunak and Rakesh Shaunak related parties? And, might Sadiq Khan, Rishi Sunak and Rakesh Shaunak be taking liberty with our civil liberties?