Official picture with Sir Richard Heygate supervising Nicola Sturgeon signing the secret Marshall Plan for Scotland from BBC website
Serious questions are now being asked as it was revealed Nicola Sturgeon signed a “£10 billion memorandum of understanding" with a Chinese company” weeks ago without telling the Scottish Parliament or the Scottish people.
The only reason Scotland found out is the Chinese company posted the story on their website on 21st March 2016 and someone spotted it and started asking questions.
So what did Nicola have to hide from Scotland where MSP’s and the people were told nothing but Nicola Sturgeon’s party donor Brian Souter and Royal Bank of Scotland were made aware of the deal when it happened and what other questions must be asked about this deal - regarding other facts the BBC have and Nicola Sturgeon have yet to reveal about this "memorandum of understanding".
The Chinese announcement stated "Managing Director of SinoFortone and Sir Richard Heygate, senior advisor for China Railway No.3 Engineering Group, commented:“We are delighted to act as a bridge between Chinese infrastructure expertise and finance with Scotland, to provide a real example of the benefits of the “One Belt One Road” strategy in action. We believe that the enthusiasm that we have found amongst our many Scottish friends for the project guarantees its success.”
What is the “one belt one road strategy” – the Chinese say it is like the American marshall plan that bailed out the UK and Europe after the war..
So who is Sir Richard Heygate and why was he supervising Nicola Sturgeon signing this secret marshall plan for Scotland with the Chinese after she sneaked him and the Chinese representatives into Bute House?
Sir Richard Heygate is a British Baronet whose great grandfather was Chief Executive of Lloyds Bank.
A 2013 Telegraph article headlined "“Bid to unlock cash from Chinese for joint projects" it says
“The 88 Initiative (88), championed by entrepreneur Sir Richard Heygate and millionaire Conservative donor Sir Paul Judge, aims to attract vast sums from China.
“Dissatisfied with the current level of investment flows from China into the UK, Sir Richard, inventor of the first online ATM, and Sir Paul Judge, former director general of the Conservative Party, have joined forces with entrepreneurial network E2Exchange to tap into the vast cash reserves held by Chinese investors
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“China intends to divest more than $500bn (£319bn) overseas in the next few years,” said Sir Richard. “We must ensure that the UK receives its fair share.”
Another article reveals Sir Richard's company 88 Initiative has been set up to get round tough new immigration laws for Chinese students.
A member of the board of his company, Malaysian born Ivan Hoo, who studied at Cambridge then became Chief Executive of Inscentinel (The SnifferBees company), a company funded by the British Government and venture capital to train bees to find explosives and drugs - he left when the money dried up.
Another story reveals Sir Richard Heygates company "takes a commission from the money invested in UK firms as a result of the matchmaking process"
So will Sir Richard's 88 Initiative company make commission on this £10billion Marshall Plan for Scotland after arranging a secret date, matchmaking Nicola Sturgeon , and Chinese company SinaFortone?
Who actually negotiated the Chinese Marshall Plan for Scotland - was it Sir Richard Heygate and former director general of the Westminster Tory party Sir Paul Judge - with Sir Richard reported to be at the signing of this secret deal in his capacity of being an advisor to the Chinese company - or Nicola Sturgeon?
Did the Tories negotiate it and sneak into Scotland purely to get Nicola to rubber stamp it for them and will Richard Heygate make money on this deal?
And what does this mean for Scotland - especially as the UK government has a double tax agreement with China - which could be used by the Chinese to avoid paying tax in Scotland when this £10 billion "memorandum of understanding" starts being put into effect with the Chinese students Sir Richard Heygate hopes to help get round immigration rules also possibly able to get special taxation treatment using the double tax agreement too
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