7 March 2012

0148.htm  UK Parliament Outs Mark Burby Super-Injunction 2  March 7, 2012

29 February 2012

UK Parliament Reveals Mark Burby Super-Injunction

A sends:

You may find this of interest, and if so consider publishing a copy of the Burby submission below. It is currently still up on the UK
Parliament website, but lawyers are reportedly threatening diplomatic repercussions.

In brief:

The unnamed ex-wife of an unnamed Asian head of state has a "super-injunction" in effect in the UK, against a businessman named
Mark Burby. Normally that would prevent any mention in the UK media. However Burby recently provided a written submission to a committee in
the UK Parliament, and it has been published under "parliamentary privilege".

A few days ago the Telegraph newspaper reported the contents of Burby's submission under the headline "Head of state 'funded al-Qaeda
and knew of 7/7 terror attacks'".

It was reported this afternoon that lawyers for the claimant (ex-wife) are now actually trying to persuade Parliament to take down Burby's
submission "as a matter of extreme urgency" and warning that it will have diplomatic repercussions.

Burby's submission is quite extraordinary and includes allegations that the unnamed head of state is a "substantial" backer of AQ and had
advance warning of the suicide bombings in London in July 2005. Additionally it covers personal matters likely to embarrass the
principals involved.

The submission itself is not proof of anything of course. However Burby is clearly not a fantasist. In 2005 he was awarded damages of
£50m over a disputed business deal with the family of the head of state. A second businessman under a similar injunction from the same
source was murdered in Australia in 2009.

I've included links to Burby's submission, the Telegraph articles, and supporting older news articles below.

Naming the names:

The "Asian head of state" is Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei (ostensibly a close ally of the UK).

The claimant is the Sultan's first ex-wife Mariam Aziz (recipient of the "world's largest divorce settlement" in 2003).

The murdered businessman is Michael McGurk (shot to death in Sydney in 2009).

Main links:

Joint Committee on Privacy and Injunctions - Oral and written evidence (see Burby pages 50-79)

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/joint-committees/Privacy_and_Injunctions/JCPIWrittenEvWeb.pdf

[Cryptome mirror: http://cryptome.org/2012/01/mark-burby-doc.pdf (2.9MB)]

"Head of state 'funded al-Qaeda and knew of 7/7 terror attacks'" (Telegraph, 25/02/2012)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9104424/Head-of-state-funded-al-
Qaeda-and-knew-of-77-terror-attacks.html

"Exclusive: Lawyers order Parliament to stop publishing super-injunction document" (Telegraph, 28/02/2012)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9111931/Exclusive-Lawyers-order-
Parliament-to-stop-publishing-super-injunction-document.html

2003 Divorce:

"The world's largest divorce settlement" (Scotsman, 04/02/2003)

http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/the_world_s_largest_divorce_settlement_1_544213

"Sultan of Brunei to divorce his second wife" (Hello, 06/02/2003)

http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/2003/02/06/sultanofbrunei/

2007 Mariam Aziz and the fortune teller (previous injunction attempt):

"Sultan of Brunei's bid to 'protect dignity' fails" (Telegraph, 11/07/2007)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557122/Sultan-of-Bruneis-bid-to-protect-dignity-fails.html

"Sultan of Brunei's ex-wife and the £2m con" (Telegraph, 12/07/2007)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1557227/Sultan-of-Bruneis-ex-wife-and-the-2m-con.html

2009 Michael McGurk murder and link to Burby:

"Claims that slain businessman wanted to blackmail Sultan" (ABC, 10/09/2009)

http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2009/s2682461.htm

"McGurk 'planned to blackmail' Sultan of Brunei" (ABC, 11/09/2009)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-09-10/mcgurk-planned-to-blackmail-sultan-of-brunei/1425082

"British property developer claims police protection after Sydney murder" (Guardian, 09/09/2009)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/09/mark-burby-police-protection-australia

Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei (Wikipedia entry)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassanal_Bolkiah