Army finance officer cleared of stealing £100,000 from the SAS

An Army finance sergeant was cleared today of stealing £100,000 from the SAS.

Staff Sergeant Mark McKay, 35, of the Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC), was found not guilty of stealing $200,000 from a cash office at the Hereford base of 22 Special Air Service (SAS), to whom he was attached when the elite unit deployed to the Gulf in February 2003 for the second Iraq war.

At a week-long court martial at Bulford military court in Wiltshire, Sgt McKay claimed he made the sum legitimately by running his own privately-funded tuck shop, selling alcohol, toiletries and even Viagra to the 5,000 American servicepeople, 70 Australian soldiers and 200 UK troops at his base in the Gulf.

Breaking down as he gave evidence, he said he felt “ashamed” at having made so much money out of his colleagues.

A board of five Army officers - the military equivalent of a jury - took an hour and 20 minutes to find the father-of-two not guilty.

Although the prosecution alleged that Sgt McKay stole Ministry of Defence cash from an SAS cash office, they were not able to prove it actually belonged to the MoD or that anyone had noticed it was missing from regimental accounts.

Sgt McKay’s alleged dishonesty came to light in April 2006 when military police, acting on a tip-off, searched his home in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, where he was posted in July 2004 after leaving the SAS.

They found $200,000 in plastic bags hidden in a terracotta plant pot outside McKay’s front door, the court martial heard.

Sgt McKay maintained in court that the sum was just part of the $371,000 he had made from his Gulf-based shop, which he ran in addition to his official role as a finance clerk.

He claimed that during his 12-week deployment with the SAS, from February to May 2003, he bought, among other things, cases of beer for $20 and sold them on for up to $100.

Sgt McKay initially told military police the $200,000 was surplus from the SAS’s Gulf War account, which he closed in 2003 to his bosses’ satisfaction. But at his trial he admitted that this was not true, and that in fact the cash was profit from his personal war zone shop.

Fiji Finance Minister denies being sacked

Fiji's interim Finance minister, Mahendra Chaudhry had blamed reports he is to be sacked on his enemies overseas and in Fiji. Yesterday in Fiji there was speculation Mr Chaudhry was being forced out of his interim portfolio. Those reports were quickly denied by interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Today, Mr Chaudhry told radio audiences in Fiji, that he and the Commodore have a great relationship. But as Pacific Correspondent Campbell Cooney reports this hasn't ended speculation a deal has been done allowing Mr Chaudhry to resign at the end of August.

Presenter: Campbell Cooney
Speaker: Fiji's interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry on Legend FM in Suva

COONEY: Yesterday Fiji's interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, was on Legend FM telling the island nation his Finance Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry wasn't being sacked.

Today, Mr Chaudhry did the same, telling listeners just how close he and the commodore are.

CHAUDHRY: Well our relations are excellent. We are candid with each other and we have respect for each other.

COONEY: Yesterday, Fiji's media went into a frenzy over speculation the nation's powerful military council had told Commodore Bainimarama they wanted Mr Chaudhry sacked from his interim portfolio. The reason as reported was that it was unhappy with Mr Chaudhry's decisions to increase taxation on both the bottled water industry and on bus operators, decisions which led to strikes and walk offs, generating ill will amongst the public towards the interim government.

Both issues were only resolved when the taxes were removed during negotiations conducted with interim attorney-general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, meetings which Mr Chaudhry was excluded from.

His absence from the latest negotiations with the water industry, combined with the day of meetings involving the commodore, the military council and other key ministers generated the dismissal talk, quickly followed by the denials.

Mr Chaudhry's blamed that talk on his critics overseas and his political enemies at home.

CHAUDHRY: You know our detractors will always try and portray a different picture, because these are the ones who have been making this country right for many years, without contributing to it.

COONEY: As the only Indo-Fijian prime minister removed from office in a coup himself, Mahendra Chaudhry is one of the most prominent people in his community. That support apparently extends overseas.

After reports speculating about his future in the interim government began appearing, Radio Australia was contacted by a member of the ex-patriot Indo-Fijian community in Sydney, Australia, wanting to voice that community's support for Mr Chaudhry, who the caller described as the only person with the skills to rebuild Fiji's economy.

But the denials about his sacking have not ended the speculation. A deal has been done which will allow him to resign at the end of August.