Does Cllr Anthony Stansfeld believe in transparency and accountability?

See all collected posts about this matter in one place by clicking this link

OK, so where are we up to with understanding Cllr Anthony Stansfeld’s commercial interests and whether we know all there is to know? This is what I think I have established:

• His West Berkshire register has now changed to comply with new regulations around the declaration of interests (as I understand matters). The full text can be seen here. It now says he is “Chairman of FIDAS - not registered in UK and with no interests in the UK. Unpaid” 
• So we still know little about FIDAS unless it is a company registered in Switzerland called Fidas AG (see earlier blog to see the connection ) However, this company states that its purpose is ““acquisition, holding and management and sale of investments”.
• Cllr Stansfeld states on his published CV to be “currently Chairman of a small company that has interests in water systems for agriculture and energy recovery systems for industry” (see here)
• So if Fidas AG is an investment type company it could well have interests in water systems etc. just as it might also have investments in many other kinds of (unknown) businesses as well. There is no website and not much more information about this company and precisely what its business is. What conclusions would you draw from this: Switzerland, investment type company, paucity of information?
• I now have a copy of Cllr Stansfeld’s register of interests for his Police Authority work. Interestingly, it does not mention FIDAS at all, nor indeed, as it happens does it list his membership of West Berkshire Council (I have raised this with the PA). The document I was sent says it was updated on 29/8/12… However it does mention (under Name of Employer or Name of Firm of which I am a Partner/Remunerated Director) the following: “ELS, Redhill Chambers, 28 High Street, Redhill, Surrey RH1 1RJ”. This is interesting as when I search on “els redhill” I get links to European Land Solutions. As I have established before, Cllr Stansfeld has indeed had a relationship with such a business (see this below) but he terminated his involvement with this business in 2008 and it was formally dissolved as a company a year or so later. Just to repeat, the document was updated on 29/8/12… (I also cannot account for the fact that the last company address of ELS was in Peterborough not Redhill…) And the website that the ELS links point towards include this which seems (now) to be a querky and slightly dodgy website in Japanese. Huh ???
• His LinkedIn account still shows him as Chairman of a company called Prescience AG which Cllr Stansfeld has told me in an email never traded even though it still has a live website presence. The website is neatly designed and describes the company as Turning today’s innovative technologies into tomorrow’s universal applications in target markets in the Middle East, Australasia, Europe and Asia. Working with Europe’s leading innovators in the water and energy sectors, PRESCIENCE AG helps with the development of new and significant technologies in territories where team members have gained considerable experience. This sounds rather like the company described in Cllr Stansfeld’s CV. But it never traded according to him. Hmm...

I am almost getting bored by all this now as I have met with so many cul-de-sacs and information that just does not add up for me. But I say almost… because in the end, Cllr Stansfeld is pitching for high and powerful political office. I think the electorate have a right to know about all of his commercial interests whether they are in this country or not. Right now, I think we know very little.

I will continue to dig… (and all help with the spade work much appreciated)

Here for your information are links to all the previous blog posts on this matter:
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four | Part five | Part six | Part seven