Difference between revisions of "Vericola"

From Powerbase
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 8: Line 8:
 
==Revolving door between undercover policing and the private spying business==
 
==Revolving door between undercover policing and the private spying business==
  
A leaked email revealed Vericola's information was destined for [[Gordon Irving]], revealed ''The Guardian''. [[Gordon Irving]], security director of [[Scottish Power]], joined the firm in 2001 after 30 years in [[Strathclyde Police]] where he was head of special branch. <ref name="Rob Evans"> Paul Lewis and Rob Evans [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/14/environmental-activists-protest-energy-companies  Green groups targeted polluters as corporate agents hid in their ranks]''The Guardian'', 14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11</ref>
+
A leaked email revealed Vericola's information was destined for [[Gordon Irving]], revealed ''The Guardian''. [[Gordon Irving]], security director of [[Scottish Power]], joined the firm in 2001 after 30 years in [[Strathclyde Police]] where he was head of special branch. <ref name="Rob Evans"> Paul Lewis and Rob Evans [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/14/environmental-activists-protest-energy-companies  Green groups targeted polluters as corporate agents hid in their ranks]''The Guardian'', 14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11</ref>
  
 
Privately, senior officers claim there are "without question" more corporate spies embedded in the protest movement than police officers. Among their number are former police officers cashing in on their surveillance skills for a host of companies that target protesters, relays ''the Guardian''.<ref name="Rob Evans"/> The same article goes on to relate  
 
Privately, senior officers claim there are "without question" more corporate spies embedded in the protest movement than police officers. Among their number are former police officers cashing in on their surveillance skills for a host of companies that target protesters, relays ''the Guardian''.<ref name="Rob Evans"/> The same article goes on to relate  

Revision as of 00:24, 15 February 2011

Vericola, according to Todd the CEO of the company, is a "business risk management company" offering a "bespoke" service to clients "regarding potential threats" to their businesses. [1]

Energy giants hire private security firm to infiltrate campaigners

According to communications leaked to The Guardian,

the energy giant E.ON, Britain's second-biggest coal producer Scottish Resources Group and Scottish Power, one of the UK's largest electricity-generators, have been paying for the services of a private security firm that has been secretly monitoring activists.[1]
E.ON said it had hired Vericola and another security firm, Global Open, on an "ad hoc" basis as its executives wanted to know when environmentalists were going to demonstrate at or invade its power stations and other premises, as they had done in the past.[1]

Revolving door between undercover policing and the private spying business

A leaked email revealed Vericola's information was destined for Gordon Irving, revealed The Guardian. Gordon Irving, security director of Scottish Power, joined the firm in 2001 after 30 years in Strathclyde Police where he was head of special branch. [2]

Privately, senior officers claim there are "without question" more corporate spies embedded in the protest movement than police officers. Among their number are former police officers cashing in on their surveillance skills for a host of companies that target protesters, relays the Guardian.[2] The same article goes on to relate

The company best-known for monitoring protest groups is Global Open, founded a decade ago by Rod Leeming, a former special branch officer who in the late 1990s ran the Animal Rights National Index (ARNI), a clandestine Metropolitan police unit monitoring activists.Global Open claims to have more than 90 clients and maintains "a discreet watch" on protest groups that could damage a firm's reputation. It is understood to have offered to employ several ex-police officers, including the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, who said he was hired by Rod Leeming as a private investigator last year. Leeming previously claimed never to have met or employed Kennedy.[2]

Company details

COMPANY DETAILS: VERICOLA LIMITED
WOODLANDS BOURNE LANE
HAM STREET
 ASHFORD
 KENT
 TN26 2HH
Company No. 06555264 Rebecca Todd lists on administrative restoration form:
Mobile = (0)7944 896138 Status: Active
Date of Incorporation: 04/04/2008
Applied to be struck off register (presumably for not actively trading): 04/08/2009
Company dissolved (after 3 months inactive): 17/11/2009
Administrative restoration (starts trading again): 06/01/2010 Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC):
7460 – Investigation & security
7487 – Other business activities Accounting Reference Date: 30/04
Last Accounts Made Up To: 30/04/2009 (TOTAL EXEMPTION SMALL)
Next Accounts Due: 31/01/2011
Last Return Made Up To: 04/04/2009
Next Return Due: 02/05/2010 Accountants (see separate wiki entry):
HMN Accountants, Woodlands, Bourne Lane, Hamstreet, Ashford, Kent. TN26 2HH
Company no: 05629237 Appointments Record lists Rebecca Louise Todd as Director, Ian David Howes is a secretary of Vericola. Rebecca Todd is sole share-holder.

Contact Vericola

Rebecca Todd
CEO
Vericola Ltd
07944896138
rt@vericola.com [3]

Investigation

In order to establish which groups were targeted and to what extent, we propose to compile information on Vericola’s activities. Should you have had any contact, however brief, in person or email with Vericola’s employees, please contact us at tactics@riseup.net

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Rob Evans and Paul Lewis Revealed: how energy firms spy on environmental activists The Guardian,14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Paul Lewis and Rob Evans Green groups targeted polluters as corporate agents hid in their ranksThe Guardian, 14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11
  3. Indymedia Website Spying company, Vericola Ltd, uncovered after incompetence,Indymedia, 14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11