Gerald James

Gerald James  (whistleblower)
Gerald James circa 1995
Exposed	Arms-to-Iraq
Interest of	Peter Lilley
"The most important and high-level whistleblower in the defence industry"

Gerald Reavely James was Chairman of Astra Holdings PLC through the period covering most of the UK Thatcher government of the 1980's, which included the the events that became known as 'the arms to Iraq affair'. These events were the subject of The Scott Inquiry which was commissioned in 1992 and reported in 1996. Much of the report remains classified.

Arms-to-Iraq

Full article: Arms-to-Iraq

By 1986 Astra Explosives in Kent were working a phantom third shift to supply the contracts and the company’s accounts did not match the massive secret turnover. When MD Gerald James queried these strange goings on, he was ousted in a boardroom coup organised by Stephan Kock, an MI6 agent placed on the board by John Cuckney and MI6 to oversee Astra’s illegal contracts.

Close call

Noting a series of deaths (Gerald Bull, Alan Clark & David Kelly), Peter Eyre writes that "[Gerald James] had a brush with death at the end of last year but they got one of his relatives purely by accident."

In The Public Interest

Full article: In The Public Interest

Gerald James published his version of the affair in his 1995 book In The Public Interest which is a devastating account of the Thatcher Government's involvement in the covert - and often illegal - arms trade. The flyleaf of the book states that it "rewrites the Thatcher years, revealing a political management structure in Britain today which makes a mockery of the Democratic process."

External Links

• JANCOM web site - a site dedicated to seeking a measure of genuine justice for Asil Nadir but which has a vast amount of documentation and information on the Arms-to-Iraq affair impinging on the The establishment's shabby treatment of Gerald James.

 

Documents by Gerald James

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Big Brother - One Man's Story	account	1 January 2010	Arms-to-Iraq Stephan Adolphus Kock Political Scandals UK/Legal System Privy Council UK/Deep state Arms Trade	The workings of secret, unaccountable government (The Deep State) of the UK. It functions, not only with callous disregard for the lives of those who get in its way but through Machiavellian manipulation of them - The sobering experiences of Gerald James.
Document:Gerald James 2007 FOIA Appeal Statement	legal document	2007	Arms-to-Iraq MI5	Gerald James' appeal statement in the matter of the UK government refusal to release documents which would support his allegations of SIS orchestration of events and people that resulted in the destruction of his company, Astra Holdings.
File:Gerald James 2007 FOIA Appeal Statement.pdf	legal document	2007	Arms-to-Iraq MI5
File:GeraldJamesStatements.pdf	legal document	2007	Arms-to-Iraq MI5

 

A Quote by Gerald James

Page	Quote	Date	Source
Arms Dealer	“The media talk glibly of "arms dealers" as if private individuals and companies conduct business secretly and illegally. This is total nonsense. There are arms manufacturers and some middlemen or sales companies which are closely monitored by government. Occasionally there is news of some scandal which invariably involves some middleman or company disowned by his or its particular sponsor government due to embarrassment over policies and sales becoming public knowledge. It is true, however, that sometimes even elected Ministers do not know what is going on as the deals and policies are made by unelected unaccountable senior civil servants and intelligence and security officers. A typical case is the £2bn Pergau Dam related Malaysian defence deal. Secrecy is the road to corruption and the two are never far apart.”	2007	Document:Gerald James 2007 FOIA Appeal Statement

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Project Babylon and the still smoking Iraqi supergun	article	2 May 2014	Andrew Rosthorn	A startling account of the murky dealings of the British political establishment and security services surrounding the Arms-to-Iraq affair in general and the legal proceedings against Asil Nadir in particular
Document:Stephan Kock - Spook	article	December 1994	Mark Phythian	A detailed look at the career of Stephan Adolphus Kock, one of the spooks at the centre of the Arms-to-Iraq and Pergau Dam scandals
Document:Whistler against the wind - Gerald James	profile	18 June 1995	Cal McCrystal	A profile of Gerald James, former Chairman of Astra Holdings and his battles against his appalling treatment by a corrupt system intent on hiding the dirty secrets of the Arms-to-Iraq affair.

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