Today, the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson is finally published. Ukrainian judge is jailed, a shipwreck in Greece kills 78, and tensions flare up once again in Kosovo. From TLDR news, this is your daily briefing for Thursday 15th June, 2023. This morning, the long-awaited Privileges Committee report into whether ex-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statements about the party gate scandal misled the House of Commons was finally released.
The Committee has, for many months, been collecting evidence from various sources, one of which was Boris Johnson himself. It's fair to say that the Committee was not best impressed by his appearance before them, though, with the Committee concluding that he was complicit in the campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the Committee. Additionally, they claimed that he breached the confidence of the Committee by replying to a summary of their findings publicly on Friday, and that throughout the process, he engaged in a practice of impugning the Committee and thereby undermining the democratic process of the House. And this was just their criticism of his actions in Committee, not his actions relating to party gate itself.
About this, they concluded that Johnson did deliberately mislead both the House of Commons and then subsequently the Committee. For these reasons, had Johnson not resigned an MP last week, the Committee concluded that they would have recommended a suspension from the House of 90 Days. Now, it's difficult to explain just how significant this is. There was speculation prior to the publication of this report that Johnson may well be recommended a suspension of more than 10 days, which would have meant that he was subject to a recall petition and then likely a by-election.
However, this was tentative as a 10-day suspension is pretty significant punishment. The only MP who received a suspension in excess of 90 days was Labor's Keith Vaz, who was given a six-month suspension for expressing a willingness to purchase cocaine for sex workers. Now, it's worth pointing out here that the Privileges Committee simply recommended the suspension. The whole House has to agree to it, and as Johnson has already stepped down as an MP, the vote will basically be symbolic.
So, technically, Johnson has not received this punishment. This is simply the punishment he likely would have received, had he remained as an MP. Other MPs, found to have lied to the House, such as Paul Flynn in 2012, were suspended from the House for significantly shorter time periods. In Flynn's case, it was only five days.
Johnson's 90-day recommended suspension was the result of a confounding effect of misleading the Committee attempting to intimidate the Committee and undermining the Committee, all on top of lying to the House. The vote on this recommended suspension will take place on Monday. The majority of MPs will not be whipped to vote in any particular way, and the motion will be amenable. There's more on the way, but be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to make the daily briefing part of your daily routine, or just search for us on your podcast app to listen along.
Ukraine has jailed a judge who hid $150,000 of bribes in pickle jars and other locations. Michaela Chaus, formerly of the Dineepro District Court of Kiev, has had his assets seized and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bribery by Ukraine's high anti-corruption court. Chaus' story has many interesting twists and turns, including the fact that he was caught in 2016 after authorities discovered his stash of bribes hidden in pickle jars in his car and buried in his garden. He pleaded not guilty and claimed the case was politically motivated.
Then even after the Ukrainian Parliament permitted his arrest, he used his judicial immunity to flee to neighboring Moldova in 2016. In 2017, he was detained in Moldova and Ukraine requested his extradition, meanwhile he applied for political asylum. Then, in 2021, his lawyers said he'd been kidnapped by an armed group and taken to an unknown location, which obviously complicated things. Months later, he emerged in a rural Ukrainian village near the border with Moldova.
He was dirty, hungry, wearing only shorts and claiming he'd escaped from his kidnappers. He was subsequently detained by Ukraine's security service, prompting a dispute between the security service and the anti-corruption bureau, who both claimed they had authority over the case. Eventually, anti-corruption police got a hold of him and his trial began. There's more to this story, with allegations of Ukrainian government involvement in his kidnapping.
Nevertheless, he's going to prison for 10 years, and as anti-corruption activist Vitaliy Shabunen said, now we wait for Netflix to buy the rights to this story. So that's what's been happening in Ukraine today. Let's move now to Greece. A shipwreck in Greece has left at least 78 people dead while hundreds remain missing, making it one of Europe's deadliest such disasters in recent years.
Reports suggest that a fishing boat was packed with hundreds of people seeking to make the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean from Africa to Europe. Officials say the boat had set off in Libya and was trying to get to Italy. A Greek coast guard spokesperson said it was a fishing boat packed with people who refused our assistance because they wanted to go to Italy. The UN has said that initial estimates suggest up to 400 people might have been on board.
At time of writing, 104 people have been rescued, with most of the survivors being of Syrian Egyptian and Pakistani origin, according to the coast guard. The boat's engine failed in the Ionian Sea before 11pm on Tuesday, and it sank in around 10-15 minutes. It took a government to have declared three days of national mourning following the incident, and said the survivors would be transferred to a migrant camp near Athens. The Mediterranean is one of the most dangerous routes in the world for people seeking asylum, as the UN had registered over 20,000 deaths and disappearances in the Central Sea since 2014.
Officials in Kosovo have accused Serbian forces of crossing the border and kidnapping three Kosovo police officers, sparking fears of renewed violence amid rising tensions between the two nations. Kosovo's interior ministers said the police officers had been stationed within Kosovo, performing normal duties when criminal Serbia entered the territory of Kosovo and kidnapped three police officers, in violation of any agreement and against any principle of international norms. Kosovo's prime minister said that they'd been around 300 metres inside the country. Serbia, however, gives a different account of the story.
Serbia's president said his police did not even set a foot inside Kosovo, adding that the three Kosovo police were arrested as far as 1.8 kilometres inside Serbian territory. Serbian officials also said the Kosovo police officers were armed with automatic weapons and military gear. A statement said the attempt of the so-called Kosovo police to invade the territory of central Serbia was successfully prevented, which by all parameters is a terrorist act. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's 2008 Declaration of Independence from Serbia, and the countries have a tense history, having fought a war in the late 1990s.
Tensions have escalated and violence has flared up in recent weeks, as ethnic Albanian mayors took office in Serb majority parts of northern Kosovo, following elections that were boycotted by ethnic Serbs. In the final uplifting story today, we discuss a new policy from New York City Mayor Eric Adams. On Monday, Adams signed an executive order which guarantees access to gender affirming healthcare to New York City citizens. In signing the order, he said, to our LGBTQ plus community across the nation, feeling hurt, isolated or threatened, we have a clear message for you.
New York City has, and will always be, a welcoming home for you. He added, this executive order reaffirms the fact that hate has no place in our city, and that people deserve the right to gender affirming care and protection against prosecution for being who they are. One last thing, we have some news. The first episode of our new series, TLDR's Race Across Europe, is now out on YouTube and Nebula.
Here's a quick preview. Go, go, go, go. He's off. He's off.
He's gone. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this.
I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. It's not that I can go.
What? What do you mean? We've come through some of the police, now. My face is dead.
I don't know. I'm with a terrible people's gaze. You know, so far. Oh shit.
Oh, no. We'd absolutely love it if you check it out. It's linked below. And you can find the first episode on the TLDR EU YouTube channel.
If you want to even more though, the second episode is available a week early on Nebula, and we'll be releasing every subsequent episode a week early on Nebula too. It's not just the race that's on Nebula either. We also publish an extended version of a daily briefing each and every day. extended edition answering the question, why is Beyonce being blamed for Sweden's high inflation?
That's only on Nebula. That's the streaming service we're building with a bunch of our creator friends, many of whom you're likely to be already watching. That means that by signing up you not only get an extended and free daily briefing every single day, you also get to watch exclusive and free videos from the best educational creators on YouTube. That's things like real-life laws' incredible modern conflicts, which breaks down contemporary disputes around the world, Neo's underexposure, which beautifully dives into complex and shadowy topics you've always wanted to know more about, or extremities from Wendover Productions, which uncovers some of the world's most remote places.
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