GDN: Row over ‘fake’ Bandargate report

Published: 25 September 2006

A “BOGUS” version of the Bandargate report is reportedly being circulated by an anonymous sender, allegedly as part of a “dirty tricks” campaign to discredit the original.

The original report, compiled by Briton Dr Salah Al Bandar and a team of investigators at the Gulf Centre for Democratic Development (GCDD), alleges that a secret organisation has been working to influence the outcome of the upcoming parliamentary elections.

But the allegedly bogus version carries photographs of three well-known opposition candidates, accusing them of receiving illicit payments.

Published: 25 September 2006

A “BOGUS” version of the Bandargate report is reportedly being circulated by an anonymous sender, allegedly as part of a “dirty tricks” campaign to discredit the original.

But the allegedly bogus version carries photographs of three well-known opposition candidates, accusing them of receiving illicit payments.

A chart in the original, purporting to show a “family tree” of the key figures in the alleged organisation, has reportedly been “doctored” to show the faces of the three opposition figures.

It shows copies of what are purportedly payment receipts, included in the original report, but with additional handwritten notes indicating that the payments were distributed among key opposition figures and activists.

It does not include any signatures of the individuals.

It was dismissed by Dr Al Bandar yesterday as the “dirty work” of those implicated in his own version.

“Any other version means this organisation is still working to discredit others,” he said.

“This shows how dangerous this secret organisation is.”

Dr Al Bandar, who had been working as a strategic planning adviser to the Cabinet Affairs Ministry since October last year, was deported to London on September 13, allegedly after sending copies of the GCDD’s 240-page report to Bahraini authorities, the British, US and German embassies and local political society heads.

He is also secretary-general of the London-registered, non-governmental GCDD, which he says compiled the report after six months of investigations.

The report charts a money trail which it alleges leads back to a senior government official directly involved in organising the elections.

It alleges that payments totalling more than BD1 million have been made to government employees, members of the local Press, MPs, parliamentary candidates, civil societies, lawyers, bank employees, a Jordanian intelligence team and a Shura Council member.

The report calls on the government to establish an investigation committee to probe its claims, determine the individuals responsible and bring them to justice.

Al Wefaq member Jawad Fairouz, who said he received a copy of the “false report” in the mail, said he believed figures implicated in the original report were responsible for the new version.

“The same group who were involved in all these plans, which Salah Al Bandar wrote about, after they found out the report was being distributed and all their activities were revealed to the public, added key figures of the opposition,” he said.

“One of Al Wefaq’s board members received it through the mail and the address had been typed on the envelope without indicating who is the sender.”

Other political societies and journalists have received identical copies of the new report, delivered in the same way, said Mr Fairouz.

“It shows one source is distributing the report.”

The aim of releasing the new report may have been to discredit the original, he said. “I think the main aim is to make people suspicious of the (actual) report,” said Mr Fairouz. “We know they (people in the organisation) are still active and what scares us is that they are free to damage the reputation of sincere citizens. “But this should not distract us from the main issue, which is the original report. “We are calling for the higher authorities to open a full investigation.”

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