Harrods scandal in the UK: Canada isn't immune

[myata]

As the scandal: multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assaults against the Harrods late owner Al Fayed is unfolding, appalling facts are coming to the light, including the Crown Prosecution Service twice failing to prosecute the alleged crimes brought to its attention for "no realistic chance of conviction". One incident involved an underage victim in 2008.

Not an unrelated story was developing earlier with the infamous now Canadian tycoon Nygard who felt invincible for decades, with justice obstructed and delayed for as long. This is unacceptable. A modern democratic society, if it remains and being maintained as such cannot tolerate such incidents.

Where is the line between opaqueness, ineptitude and incompetence, and corruption, in essential public services? Does it exists? How can we know it, with confidence, in a system that is accountable to the citizens, and it's not a joke, only "at the time of election"? These scandals are bound to happen again and again, in a system that lacks transparency and accountability.

Citizens own the democracy. They have the right to know at all times, and every time. Governments and administrations are accountable and responsible for every act and any time. The price of forgetting these truths can be high.

[Dougie93]

the Al-Fayed family is responsible for the death of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales

she never intended to marry Dodi Al-Fayed, and she made that quite clear from the start

but his insistence that she divert to Paris for him to propose, simply to impress his father

was the ultimate cause of her death

[NAME REMOVED]

3 hours ago, myata said:

As the scandal: multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assaults against the Harrods late owner Al Fayed is unfolding, appalling facts are coming to the light, including the Crown Prosecution Service twice failing to prosecute the alleged crimes brought to its attention for "no realistic chance of conviction". One incident involved an underage victim in 2008.

Not an unrelated story was developing earlier with the infamous now Canadian tycoon Nygard who felt invincible for decades, with justice obstructed and delayed for as long. This is unacceptable. A modern democratic society, if it remains and being maintained as such cannot tolerate such incidents.

Where is the line between opaqueness, ineptitude and incompetence, and corruption, in essential public services? Does it exists? How can we know it, with confidence, in a system that is accountable to the citizens, and it's not a joke, only "at the time of election"? These scandals are bound to happen again and again, in a system that lacks transparency and accountability.

Citizens own the democracy. They have the right to know at all times, and every time. Governments and administrations are accountable and responsible for every act and any time. The price of forgetting these truths can be high.

The sad thing about the Nygaard case, is it was an open secret by the 90s that Peter Nygaard was a sex predator, a bully, treated his staff like shit, and made unwanted advances on his female employees. Nygaard first came on the Winnipeg Police radar in 1968, when he was in his mid-late 20s, as a Woman had accused him of rape. He paid her off. 

Then in 1980, he was once again accused of rape by one of his secretaries. She was paid off. In the 90s, three young women in their early 20s sued Nygaard for sexual harassment, as he repeatedly did this to any Woman he found attractive. It was settled out of court.

The fact that even I knew about Nygaard by my early 20s, in the late 90s, despite never meeting the man, or intimately knowing anyone who was employed at Tan-Jay or any of his businesses, tells one everything about the code of silence. Most people knew about Nygaard, and the reaction to him finally getting charged, and imprisoned, was "why did it take so long?"

He was Winnipeg's Harvey Weinstein. 

[NAME REMOVED]

1 hour ago, Dougie93 said:

the Al-Fayed family is responsible for the death of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales

she never intended to marry Dodi Al-Fayed, and she made that quite clear from the start

but his insistence that she divert to Paris for him to propose, simply to impress his father

was the ultimate cause of her death

LOL...uhhh no. The death of Princess Di was the fault of the drunk limo driver, and nobody else. Did Fayed tell the driver to commit suicide by driving twice the legal limit, and speeding in an underground tunnel too?

[myata]

22 minutes ago, DUI_Offender said:

The sad thing about the Nygaard case, is it was an open secret by the 90s that Peter Nygaard was a sex predator,

Exactly. And this proves that this is no coincidence: the system chooses to behave this way, despite all the great words and obvious duties and obligations and then, when it's way past the time of any meaningful action, finds itself excuses and reasons only, for the sheer reason: because it can. Because it was made and designed this way, pretty much from day one.

This is simply unacceptable in this age and state of democracy. It just cannot go on this way, without a serious, real and material damage to it.

[Dougie93]

34 minutes ago, DUI_Offender said:

LOL...uhhh no. The death of Princess Di was the fault of the drunk limo driver, and nobody else. Did Fayed tell the driver to commit suicide by driving twice the legal limit, and speeding in an underground tunnel too?

if the Princess of Wales had never been forced to stop in Paris by Dodi Al-Fayed

but rather proceeded on to the United Kingdom as she desired

she never would have been exposed to the danger

of being driven around by the drunken limo driver employed by the Ritz Hotel

 

[NAME REMOVED]

2 hours ago, myata said:

Exactly. And this proves that this is no coincidence: the system chooses to behave this way, despite all the great words and obvious duties and obligations and then, when it's way past the time of any meaningful action, finds itself excuses and reasons only, for the sheer reason: because it can. Because it was made and designed this way, pretty much from day one.

This is simply unacceptable in this age and state of democracy. It just cannot go on this way, without a serious, real and material damage to it.

It's due to one thing- money.

In the 90s, when Nygaard really started to become a fashion mogul, he was employing hundreds of Manitobans. This was a time when Winnipeg was not exactly prosperous. In fact, the city was in decline. The Jets moved in 1995, which had a significant negative psychological impact on how locals perceived Winnipeg. From the early 90s recession until 1998, the city did not grow. In fact, Winnipeg actually lost people from 1995-97, and that is with the huge influx of Indigenous people moving to the city from reserves, and the extremely high birth rate of the group.

It can be argued that Nygarrd would have been dead and buried before the World knew what a true scumbag he was. It took a documentary about Nygaard's bizarre feud with a fellow multi-millionaire Louis Bacon, and his bizarre smear campaign against his neighbour in the Bahamas, was his ultimate undoing,  that exposed the negative aspects of Nygaard. 

And just like the Alan Eagleson scandal of the 90s, it was the US authorities that finally brought Peter Nygaard down. Here in Winnipeg, he went from this local hero from Finland, who came to Winnipeg and made it big time in the fashion world, to complete social pariah to the point where some of his own children have shunned him. 

Edited September 22, 2024 by DUI_Offender

[myata]

2 hours ago, DUI_Offender said:

And just like the Alan Eagleson scandal of the 90s, it was the US authorities that finally brought Peter Nygaard down. Here in Winnipeg, he went from this local hero from Finland, who came to Winnipeg and made it big time in the fashion world

The justice system seems to be struggling with the notion of the universality of law. Have all the victims as one chose against pursuing charges? Or did they learn something from the police first? As said, without accountability and transparency, all that stuff about great traditions is no more than words, worthless verbal cr*p. And it's bound to happen, again and again until something changes.

[NAME REMOVED]

28 minutes ago, myata said:

The justice system seems to be struggling with the notion of the universality of law. Have all the victims as one chose against pursuing charges? Or did they learn something from the police first? As said, without accountability and transparency, all that stuff about great traditions is no more than words, worthless verbal cr*p. And it's bound to happen, again and again until something changes.

Unfortunately that's the way it is. Just look at P.Diddy. I always thought he was an azzhole, but never knew he was such a criminal scumbag. It's amazing him and R Kelly were doing this type of thing for their whole careers, until they were well into their middle ages, when caught.

The stuff with Justin Bieber, is pretty disgusting.  I wish Suge Knight had taken him out, instead of Biggie.

Edited September 23, 2024 by DUI_Offender

[Iceni warrior]

23 hours ago, Dougie93 said:

the Al-Fayed family is responsible for the death of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales

she never intended to marry Dodi Al-Fayed, and she made that quite clear from the start

but his insistence that she divert to Paris for him to propose, simply to impress his father

was the ultimate cause of her death

A drugged up and pissed driver was the ultimate cause of her death.

That and the fact she wasn't wearing her seatbelt.

Her close protection officer survived the crash because he had his seatbelt on.

 

Edited September 23, 2024 by Iceni warrior

[Dougie93]

7 minutes ago, Iceni warrior said:

A drugged up and pissed driver was the ultimate cause of her death.

That and the fact she wasn't wearing her seatbelt.

Her close protection officer survived the crash because he had his seatbelt on.

she wasn't even supposed to be there

Dodi told her they were flying to the UK

then he diverted the private jet to Paris

so he could make some awkward marriage proposal to her, at the behest of his father

which she politely turned down, then saying she just wanted to be flown back to England

she just never made it out of the trap that the Fayed's had set for her in Paris

[Iceni warrior]

Who doesn't put their seatbelt on when the driver is going 100mph in a tunnel?

 

[I am Groot]

If you want to look to the UK as a reflection of the problems here with the criminal justice system and sexual violence how about the outright refusal of both media and government to voice even the slightest hint about the overrepresentation of certain minority groups in criminal behaviour? Oh, they're willing to mention that certain groups are in prison at a higher rate than their population, but they never EVER go past that to suggest why, except that it must be 'racism'. 

If you look at most wanted lists for murderers, though, you'll see black and brown faces. No one in government or the media ever talks about that. No one ever mentions the prevalence of Muslims in sexual assault cases, either. Just like in the UK, where Pakistani rape gangs existed for decades with impunity because everyone was terrified of mentioning them and being accused of racism. You see the same thing happening from Sweden to Belgium to Germany, with Muslim migrants attacking local girls while the government and media keep silent on it.