US firm earns £1m from our 'forgotten' hostages

A US company has charged £1million for the 'services' of four 'forgotten'
hostages, who have been held in captivity for more than a year

By Jason Lewis and Mark Hollingsworth 
Last updated at 11:19 PM on 05th July 2008

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1032398/US-firm-earns-1m-forgotten-hostages.html#
http://tinyurl.com/5zmzx3


A private security firm that employs four of the 'forgotten' British
hostages held in Iraq for more than a year has charged about £1million for
its 'services' while they have been in captivity. 

The company, which earns millions of pounds a year protecting British
diplomats in Iraq, also has no kidnap and ransom insurance - meaning there
is no guaranteed money available to secure the men's freedom. 

The claims, in a US court case, come weeks after the men's families broke a
year-long news blackout imposed by the Foreign Office to highlight their
plight. 

The four men, who work for US-based Garda World, were protecting British IT
consultant Peter Moore, who was installing anti-corruption software at the
Iraqi finance ministry, when they were seized by armed men in police
uniforms. The five were driven towards the Shia enclave of Sadr City.
Little has been heard of them since. 

Now a lawsuit filed by Garda World against ex-Parachute Regiment officer
Paul Wood, who was head of its security operations in Iraq at the time of
the kidnapping, raises serious questions about the affair.

Mr Wood was sacked this year and is being sued for allegedly using insider
knowledge to set up his own security business. But in documents filed at
the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Mr Wood claimed he was
planning to leave. 

And Mr Wood also said he and his boss, Garda World president LeMarque
Sheppard, 'did not see eye to eye... and the tension between the two
heightened' when the four security staff were seized in Iraq. 

He added: 'A significant problem was Sheppard's failure - before the
hostages were taken - to obtain kidnap and ransom insurance for the
affected security operators and their peers.' 

Kidnap and ransom insurance would normally pay for a hostage negotiator to
work full-time on securing someone's release. Mr Wood told the court: 'The
lack of kidnap and ransom insurance has affected, and will continue to
affect, the company's analysis of whether to make financial payments for
information regarding the hostages, and whether and how much ransom would
be paid to secure their return.' 

He claimed that the men's families and Garda World's shareholders had not
been told about the lack of kidnap insurance for the hostages. 

He also told the court that despite the men being taken hostage in May 2007,
Garda has continued to charge USAID, the American international development
department, more than $1,000 a day for protecting fellow hostage Mr Moore. 

Mr Wood said: 'Garda World has continued to profit from the captured
hostages, as Garda World has continued to charge, at a high profit margin,
for the services of the hostages.' Last night the father of one of the
British hostages said the families had not been aware that Garda did not
have kidnap and ransom insurance. 

Colin, whose surname has been withheld and who has heard nothing from his
son Alec since he was taken hostage, said: 'It is obviously concerning. If
the facts are right, then it just adds to our misery.' 

Sources close to the case said US government contracts normally stipulate
that firms can continue billing for their people in kidnap situations. 

The source also said not all security firms in Iraq had kidnap and ransom
cover and instead employed their own experts to deal with hostage
situations. 

Last night Mr Wood refused comment, as did Garda World.
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