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Facing Assembly for the first time
04.03.08
When he faces the London Assembly for the first time at 10am tomorrow, Lee Jasper, one of the Mayor's top advisers, will have been at the centre of sleaze allegations for three months.
The charge, first made in the Evening Standard in December, is that millions of pounds of City Hall money - mostly from Ken Livingstone's London Development Agency, some from the Mayor's office - was paid to organisations run by a small group of Mr Jasper's friends and associates.
The organisations have in most cases failed to account for the money and have little or nothing to show for it.
Initially, it was thought there were 11 such organisations, paid at least £2.5million. It has now become clear that there are at least 14 paid at least £3.8million. Police are investigating six of the organisations and have raided at least three addresses.
The organisations include Diversity International, run by Mr Jasper's friend Joel O'Loughlin. DI received £346,000 to run a London website even though it had no web expertise and was based in Liverpool. Normal tender rules were waived.
The LDA's chief executive, Manny Lewis, wanted to sack or even sue Mr O'Loughlin for failing to deliver a working site. But after Mr O'Loughlin appealed to Mr Jasper, the LDA performed a 180-degree turn, proposing to award him a further £250,000.
The only people to be sacked, after protesting that the deal was "indefensible," were two LDA officials. Another project, Brixton Base, run by Errol Walters, got £535,000 to run a "creative training hub." In two years it only ran three short courses, lasting a matter of weeks.
On November 29, the Evening Standard asked the LDA a series of questions about the projects: why they had been funded, what public benefits they had delivered, and what role Mr Jasper had played.
Those questions remain unanswered. Tomorrow, Mr Jasper will be asked them in person.
Click on the links below to read the original emails between Lee Jasper and Karen Chouhan
"Torrid and passionate embrace..."
"How many ways do I love thee?"
"There is lots to talk about..."
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