By DAVID ROSE
Last updated at 12:31 AM on 16th October 2011
Courtesy Of "The Daily Mail"
Adam Werritty used his relationship with Liam Fox to obtain highly sensitive, technical details of a military communications system used by Coalition special forces in Afghanistan.
Dubai-based venture capitalist Harvey Boulter said last night he only disclosed the information about the system because Mr Werritty had told him he was an official Ministry of Defence adviser.
Mr Boulter said: ‘I assumed he must have been security-vetted.’
In fact, Mr Werritty had no security clearance at all.
‘We are allowed to sell this technology only to vetted clients or governments. Allowing it to fall into the wrong hands could therefore damage national security.’
Mr Boulter said that the information he had given Mr Werritty at meetings in Dubai and in a series of follow-up emails, obtained by The Mail on Sunday, also had enormous commercial value. If leaked to a competitor, it could reduce the technology’s value and that of his firm.
There is evidence that some of Mr Werritty’s principal backers have close connections to Israel – a country with a strong high-technology industry, with firms specialising in communications and security.
‘I am speaking hypothetically,’ Mr Boulter said, ‘but the Israelis are known to be good at reverse engineering other people’s technology. What would we do if an Israeli firm started pirating our technology or selling it to our enemies?’
Mr Boulter is chief executive of Porton Group, which specialises in funding companies developing civilian applications for new technologies pioneered in government labs. He was speaking in the wake of new disclosures about the financing of Mr Werritty’s lavish globetrotting.
A web of overt and covert backers, some with close links to Israel, are revealed in the bank records of Pargav Ltd, a company that did little else than fork out more than £150,000 in a year to pay for Mr Werritty’s first-class flights, hotels and nights out at New York strip clubs.
Backers include tycoon Poju Zabludowicz, chairman of the pro-Israel lobby group Britain Israeli Communication Research Centre (BICOM), and millionaire Michael Lewis, BICOM’s former deputy chairman.
‘I have concerns that sensitive information could have been compromised. If you were caught impersonating a police officer, you would go to prison. Werritty has been caught impersonating an MoD adviser. The consequences could be far more serious.’
In addition to donations from them and other named sources, Pargav received nearly £13,000 anonymously in cash deposits.
‘The new revelations bring forward urgent questions which need detailed answers,’ Mr Boulter said. ‘I have concerns that sensitive information could have been compromised. If you were caught impersonating a police officer, you would go to prison. Werritty has been caught impersonating an MoD adviser. The consequences could be far more serious.’
Mr Boulter first met Mr Werritty in Dubai at the beginning of April, on the recommendation of Lee Petar – another former BICOM official.
Mr Boulter was paying Mr Petar’s company Tetra to advise him on lobbying and public relations over a legal dispute with the US giant 3M.
It had bought a firm funded by Porton which was marketing a method developed by MoD scientists for detecting the ‘superbug’ MRSA far more quickly than before, but had abruptly closed it down.
But when Mr Boulter met Mr Werritty, they also discussed Cellcrypt, another Porton-funded venture, which makes a ‘smartphone’ app allowing users to encrypt their phone calls to a standard almost impossible to decode. In addition to Western special forces in Afghanistan, current users include security and intelligence agencies.
It was then that Mr Werritty presented his business card, stating he was an ‘Advisor to the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP’.
‘I shared highly sensitive information about this technology,’ Mr Boulter said.
Misleading: Adam Werritty's business card, which he presented to Mr Boulter
‘Aside from the security implications, how can I have confidence that it remains safe from companies that might be competitors?’
Between April and June 17, when Mr Boulter met Mr Werritty again in the Dubai Shangri-La Hotel, this time with Dr Fox, the pair exchanged numerous emails. As early as April 7, Mr Werritty was saying he had ‘spoken to Dr Fox to explain the dynamic here’ and hoped to be able to meet Mr Boulter’s Cellcrypt colleagues ‘for a wide-ranging discussion’.
Among Mr Boulter’s proposals was a plan to give the app, which would normally cost £1,000, free to British troops in Afghanistan. In another message, dated May 4, Mr Werritty promised he had passed Mr Boulter’s details and emails to Luke Coffey, the American who was Dr Fox’s official special adviser. He included his direct-line phone number, adding: ‘Drop him an email to introduce yourselves . . . I’m happy to nudge further if necessary.’
At the June 17 meeting, Mr Boulter again disclosed sensitive information. No legitimate MoD civil servants were present – an apparent breach of the ministerial code of practice. Mr Boulter then wrote to Mr Werritty to thank him for setting up the meeting, saying: ‘I very much like Dr Fox’s style, results driven.’
Mr Werritty replied: ‘That’s his way and it is why I like working with him. He’s no fan of bureaucracy.’
Mr Boulter said last night: ‘I blame Fox because he blessed this relationship. He and Werritty sat next to each other and implicitly Fox endorsed him. He didn’t have to say he was his adviser because he told me that with his actions. I only hope the damage is not as great as I fear.’
The Link To The Israeli Government
Adam Werritty has close links to a London-based pressure group whose former chief executive held senior positions in the Israeli government.
Members of the Britain Israeli Communication Research Centre contributed to funds which enabled Liam Fox’s self-styled adviser to join the Defence Secretary on dozens of trips abroad where he attended sensitive meetings.
Until July 2006, Danny Scheck, a former senior official at Israel’s foreign ministry – who later became his country’s ambassador to Paris – was boss of BICOM in the UK. The close ties between the Israeli government and BICOM have raised concerns that Mr Werritty may have unwittingly been influenced by Israel’s secret service, Mossad.
Risk: Intelligence experts say the presence of Mr Werritty (pictured left, with Dr Fox) at meetings could have allowed Israel to monitor the latest developments in UK military technology.
Intelligence experts say Mr Werritty’s presence at meetings could have allowed Israel to monitor the latest developments in UK military technology. It could also have enabled the Israelis to discover in advance details of British defence contracts agreed with Arab countries.
Mr Scheck was Israeli ambassador to France from 2008 to 2010 and is believed to have since returned to a high-level post at the Israeli foreign ministry. He had previously been the director of the ministry’s press division.
BICOM also funded Mr Werritty’s appearance at a high-profile security conference at Herzilya in Israel which was also attended by Dr Fox in 2009. The organisation paid Mr Werritty’s return flights and accommodation.
In February this year, Mr Werritty and Dr Fox were again guests at the same conference, which promotes Jewish causes.
Mr Werritty organised and attended a dinner with Dr Fox, British Ambassador Matthew Gould and Israeli politicians.
One of the biggest donors to Mr Werritty’s companies is Bicom’s billionaire chairman, Poju Zabludowicz, who is reported to have made donations to Pargav, the most recent company set up by the ‘adviser’ to fund his activities.
Businessman Michael Lewis, who runs the fashion retailer Foschini, was, until four years ago, Bicom’s deputy chairman.
The Mail on Sunday understands he has contributed to all three of Mr Werritty’s charities and companies.
Last night Bicom confirmed it had paid for flights and accommodation for Mr Werritty in 2009, but said it had no record of paying him any further money.
Asked if the centre had any connections with Mossad, a spokesman said: ‘Bicom receives no funding from any foreign government or agency.’
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