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1. A thread about cronyism in #Manchester
2. In 2014 Sir Howard Bernstein was chief exec of Manchester City Council which did large commercial property deal with Abu Dhabi govt
3. Manchester City Council wrote an internal report which set out “the detailed commercial arrangements” of the deal with Abu Dhabi
4. Report details kept secret because they “involved consideration of exempt info relating to the financial affairs of particular persons”
5. @guardian tried to get report through FOI. Council denied because of “risk of prejudice to commercial interests” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/09/uk-secret-group-of-top-officials-enable-uae-investment-united-arab-emirates
6. Guardian investigation revealed Abu Dhabi govt interest in property deal controlled by an offshore company, Loom Holdings
7. In March 2016 Amnesty and Human Rights Watch wrote to Bernstein and Sir Richard Leese about council’s links to abusive Abu Dhabi govt
8. Letter did not object to Abu Dhabi investment but urged Manchester to stand by its principles
9. Response from Leese. UAE are “exemplary” business partners. UAE’s “alleged” rights abuses nothing to do with council
10. Today Bernstein took a job with the govt whose property deal he facilitated and abuses he refused to criticise https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/northwest/man-city-sign-sir-howard
11. UAE has done this before. Former NYU president John Sexton took job in office of UAE Crown Prince after helping set up NYU Abu Dhabi
12. NYU Abu Dhabi has been a disaster. Last week NYU journalism school formally cut ties over denial of access to critical academics
