Post by pchallinor on Dec 18, 2011 14:06:01 GMT
The use of the word "despite" at the start of the third paragraph is really rather charming.
Legal campaigners are demanding to know why a global company involved in organising secret "extraordinary rendition" flights for the CIA has been awarded a series of public sector contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Lawyers at charity Reprieve are questioning what checks the British government made into Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), which was involved in arranging flights to Guantánamo Bay and clandestine "black sites" for the CIA. The company is currently working with the Home Office to strengthen border controls.
Despite its involvement in the covert extraordinary rendition programme, CSC won a contract with the UK Border Agency in 2007 to implement a UK visa incorporating advanced biometrics. Documents submitted to a court in New York state revealed that as part of a trail apparently intended to cover the CIA's tracks, CSC helped to organise covert flights for the US government up to the end of 2006 as part of the extraordinary rendition policy. The documents, including emails and invoices, indicate that CSC assumed a supervising role in the rendition flights up to the end of 2006.
A spokesman for Reprieve said: "People will be appalled to hear that their government has been handing out hundreds of millions of pounds to a company which helped organised the CIA's illegal renditions programme. "We need to know whether ministers at the time were aware of CSC's activities. If so, did they really think that a firm involved in some of the worst excesses of the 'war on terror' was an appropriate recipient of major public sector contracts?"
The contract with UKBA runs until 2014. CSC also held major public sector contracts with Royal Mail, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) companies and the Civil Nuclear Police Authority. In the past the firm was embroiled in the NHS's controversial multi-billion pound IT programme, signing a contract worth more than £1bn with the NHS as part of their Connecting for Health infrastructure programme.
The revelations relating to CSC's involvement in rendition cases emerged from documents made public during an obscure court case in New York state that ran from 2007 to 2011, concerning a dispute between private jet contractors and brokers.
They show that a passenger jet contracted by the CIA via CSC passed frequently through British and Irish airports, including Shannon, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London Luton. Other locations included Guantánamo Bay, Kabul, Baghdad and Islamabad.
A spokesman for CSC said: "We recognise that being a decent, responsible business is critical to our success. By implementing sustainable practices, we seek to ensure the vitality of the communities in which we live and do business, the morale and effectiveness of our global team, the health of our environment and the productivity and collaborative strength of our client relationships."
Its latest corporate responsibility report describes the company having made "considerable progress this year" on sustainability, client trust and ethical governance.
A Home Office spokesman said its procurement process was competitive, and that it evaluated numerous bids to ensure the best deal for taxpayers.
Observer
Legal campaigners are demanding to know why a global company involved in organising secret "extraordinary rendition" flights for the CIA has been awarded a series of public sector contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Lawyers at charity Reprieve are questioning what checks the British government made into Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), which was involved in arranging flights to Guantánamo Bay and clandestine "black sites" for the CIA. The company is currently working with the Home Office to strengthen border controls.
Despite its involvement in the covert extraordinary rendition programme, CSC won a contract with the UK Border Agency in 2007 to implement a UK visa incorporating advanced biometrics. Documents submitted to a court in New York state revealed that as part of a trail apparently intended to cover the CIA's tracks, CSC helped to organise covert flights for the US government up to the end of 2006 as part of the extraordinary rendition policy. The documents, including emails and invoices, indicate that CSC assumed a supervising role in the rendition flights up to the end of 2006.
A spokesman for Reprieve said: "People will be appalled to hear that their government has been handing out hundreds of millions of pounds to a company which helped organised the CIA's illegal renditions programme. "We need to know whether ministers at the time were aware of CSC's activities. If so, did they really think that a firm involved in some of the worst excesses of the 'war on terror' was an appropriate recipient of major public sector contracts?"
The contract with UKBA runs until 2014. CSC also held major public sector contracts with Royal Mail, UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) companies and the Civil Nuclear Police Authority. In the past the firm was embroiled in the NHS's controversial multi-billion pound IT programme, signing a contract worth more than £1bn with the NHS as part of their Connecting for Health infrastructure programme.
The revelations relating to CSC's involvement in rendition cases emerged from documents made public during an obscure court case in New York state that ran from 2007 to 2011, concerning a dispute between private jet contractors and brokers.
They show that a passenger jet contracted by the CIA via CSC passed frequently through British and Irish airports, including Shannon, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London Luton. Other locations included Guantánamo Bay, Kabul, Baghdad and Islamabad.
A spokesman for CSC said: "We recognise that being a decent, responsible business is critical to our success. By implementing sustainable practices, we seek to ensure the vitality of the communities in which we live and do business, the morale and effectiveness of our global team, the health of our environment and the productivity and collaborative strength of our client relationships."
Its latest corporate responsibility report describes the company having made "considerable progress this year" on sustainability, client trust and ethical governance.
A Home Office spokesman said its procurement process was competitive, and that it evaluated numerous bids to ensure the best deal for taxpayers.
Observer