Adrian Montague - the man charged with ripping off taxpayers and Crossrail chair
notocrossrail | 17.09.2007 10:50
Adrian Montague has a history of ripping off taxpayers with Government. Crossrail chairman Adrian Montague produced an ostensibly independent feasibility report on the scheme after being made chairman saying the Crossrail scheme ‘appears to deliver value for money’ even though it will only make £300 million pa nowhere near what is needed to pay for the £30bn scheme + interest for 30 years, for which he will work out the taxpayers liabilities. Montague also led the finance team, which signed the Metronet London Underground Public Private Partnership. Metronet collapsed in July when it maintained nine of the twelve Tube lines badly and also left £2 billion black hole in the budget for upgrading the network. It then performed the Montague trick - Metronet is now asking for taxpayers to bail out the company. In February the appropriateness of allowing Governmen advisers, Sir Adrian Montague, to lead a bid for the company that runs the £5.2bn Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
Bob Crow of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union said: "The last thing we need to see is yet more public money ending up subsidising the profits of the Government's big-business mates" inspired him to profit further by also securing the land value rises of the 120 acres in the Olympic village in Stratford.
Montague was appointed as Chairman of Crossrail in July 2004 after writing a feasibility report, which only this shameful Government can call independent. Montague admits there is ‘significant uncertainty’ and ‘cannot be satisfied that Crossrail’s Business Case fully meets the tests in the Terms of Reference’ but where has this information been seen in the upbeat press reports since he became chairman. There is certainty that taxpayers will never receive value for money from Crossrail and will instead be left with liabilities of unlimited amounts. Indeed, Mr Montague has been helping the Government work out how much taxpayers money can be committed to the project and indeed, his history of involvement in PFI/PPP schemes shows it is more than the public purse can bear but who cares? It is off the books and it is not Mr Montague’s money.
Many of which have relied on huge amounts of taxpayers’ money. In 2000, he was made Sir Adrian Montague “for services to the private finance initiative” but little was said about his ripping off taxpayers and destroying the lives of ordinary people – a requisite for being knighted. Under “New” Labour, the ex-City lawyer Montague became the £160,000 a year head of Gordon Brown’s Treasury Taskforce on PFI. Montague extolled the virtues of PPP at an annual conference for Public-Private-Partnerships in 1999. He proclaimed: “It is not enough for public authorities to decide what sort of deals they want, they must also be aware of what sort of deals the private sector is willing to do”. According to Red Pepper, Montague helped John Major draw up the privatisaton of British Rail. In 2000, John Prescott made him a member of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), which was designed to help fix the privatisation of British Rail. TfL gave Metronet a £900 million loan, which will no doubt be recouped from passengers or taxpayers.
During a House of Commons debate on the Strategic Rail Authority in May 2004, Joan Walley, MP asks “Why is the SRA not accountable for the way in which it runs its services? Paul Marsden MP asks: “Why has he not been able to find a way to stop the apparent abuse of taxpayers’ money? ” At a later date, the National Audit Office stated: “the taxpayer could be exposed to further financial risk of £360 million”. Montague is also chair of British Energy. Montague received a bonus of £100,000 for restructuring funded by the taxpayers. The £5bn restructuring plan leaves the taxpayers open to take on further liabilities to the tune of £1.7bn with a further £3.9bn for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations. The National Audit Office blamed the Government for leaving taxpayers holding the liabilities for decommissioning its nuclear power stations. The total cost of cleaning up over 50 years of nuclear waste from UK power stations and military projects will rise to over £56bn according to Sir Anthony Cleave, who is chair of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Mr Montague is currently promoting the use of nuclear energy instead of other viable alternatives.
Many of which have relied on huge amounts of taxpayers’ money. In 2000, he was made Sir Adrian Montague “for services to the private finance initiative” but little was said about his ripping off taxpayers and destroying the lives of ordinary people – a requisite for being knighted. Under “New” Labour, the ex-City lawyer Montague became the £160,000 a year head of Gordon Brown’s Treasury Taskforce on PFI. Montague extolled the virtues of PPP at an annual conference for Public-Private-Partnerships in 1999. He proclaimed: “It is not enough for public authorities to decide what sort of deals they want, they must also be aware of what sort of deals the private sector is willing to do”. According to Red Pepper, Montague helped John Major draw up the privatisaton of British Rail. In 2000, John Prescott made him a member of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), which was designed to help fix the privatisation of British Rail. TfL gave Metronet a £900 million loan, which will no doubt be recouped from passengers or taxpayers.
During a House of Commons debate on the Strategic Rail Authority in May 2004, Joan Walley, MP asks “Why is the SRA not accountable for the way in which it runs its services? Paul Marsden MP asks: “Why has he not been able to find a way to stop the apparent abuse of taxpayers’ money? ” At a later date, the National Audit Office stated: “the taxpayer could be exposed to further financial risk of £360 million”. Montague is also chair of British Energy. Montague received a bonus of £100,000 for restructuring funded by the taxpayers. The £5bn restructuring plan leaves the taxpayers open to take on further liabilities to the tune of £1.7bn with a further £3.9bn for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations. The National Audit Office blamed the Government for leaving taxpayers holding the liabilities for decommissioning its nuclear power stations. The total cost of cleaning up over 50 years of nuclear waste from UK power stations and military projects will rise to over £56bn according to Sir Anthony Cleave, who is chair of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Mr Montague is currently promoting the use of nuclear energy instead of other viable alternatives.
notocrossrail