Post by northwestman on Jan 19, 2024 15:28:51 GMT 1
www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/mark-pritchard-mp-north-macedonia-ats-group-arms-weapons-serbia-bribery-arrest-shefshet-demirovski/
A Conservative MP is set to earn £900 an hour from a North Macedonian arms company whose owner was embroiled in a bribery scandal, openDemocracy can reveal.
Mark Pritchard, who has been the MP for The Wrekin since 2005, began working for the firm ATS Group in November – but only declared it in Parliament’s transparency register last week.
ATS Group’s owner and CEO was arrested in Belgrade in 2019 following a months-long investigation by Serbian authorities into allegations of bribery over the alleged theft of technical documents from a rival arms manufacturer in Užice, Serbia.
In the latest register of MPs’ interests, Pritchard described the firm as an “industrial manufacturing and technology business”. But the firm’s website reveals it is a weapons maker, producing ballistics, ammunition and plant equipment for the production of ammunition.
It is the latest additional salary for Pritchard, whose declaration of interests says he also works for a Washington non-profit focused on the “rule of law in Eurasian countries,” as well as two US energy investment firms with significant interests in Bulgarian gas and oil.
Records show he currently earns almost £16,000 a month through these four roles.
The MP, who previously sat on the Security and Intelligence Committee, said the company will pay him £9,000 a month for “marketing advisory services”, but declined to provide any further details.
A Conservative MP is set to earn £900 an hour from a North Macedonian arms company whose owner was embroiled in a bribery scandal, openDemocracy can reveal.
Mark Pritchard, who has been the MP for The Wrekin since 2005, began working for the firm ATS Group in November – but only declared it in Parliament’s transparency register last week.
ATS Group’s owner and CEO was arrested in Belgrade in 2019 following a months-long investigation by Serbian authorities into allegations of bribery over the alleged theft of technical documents from a rival arms manufacturer in Užice, Serbia.
In the latest register of MPs’ interests, Pritchard described the firm as an “industrial manufacturing and technology business”. But the firm’s website reveals it is a weapons maker, producing ballistics, ammunition and plant equipment for the production of ammunition.
It is the latest additional salary for Pritchard, whose declaration of interests says he also works for a Washington non-profit focused on the “rule of law in Eurasian countries,” as well as two US energy investment firms with significant interests in Bulgarian gas and oil.
Records show he currently earns almost £16,000 a month through these four roles.
The MP, who previously sat on the Security and Intelligence Committee, said the company will pay him £9,000 a month for “marketing advisory services”, but declined to provide any further details.
