Stephen Glover

It is now up to Lord Black to prove his innocence to the rest of the world

It is now up to Lord Black to prove his innocence to the rest of the world

issue 04 September 2004

The excesses of Lord Black, former proprietor of the Telegraph Group, which owns this magazine, are mind-boggling. Of course they have not yet been proven in a court of law, and Lord Black continues to deny the allegations in his characteristically orotund language. But the author of the 500-page report condemning Lord Black is Richard Breeden, a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in America, and his colleagues are equally well respected and disinterested people. Moreover, they have certainly provided chapter and verse to a level of detail that must — or should — be mortifying to Lord Black and his wife, Barbara Amiel. Lord Black may continue to protest his innocence, but until he is able to prove otherwise the rest of the world will assume that a truly stupendous heist has been committed, one that bears comparison with the activities of the late Robert Maxwell.

The report alleges that ‘the aggregate cash taken by Hollinger’s former chief executive officer, Conrad M.

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