"Battistelli's diplomatic immunity expires in about 40 days. He knows it."The EPO has once again hired Shepard Fox Communications. Whether it merely increases the contract around the time of the "inventor award" (as it worked with them last year as well) we don't know; we never managed to see the contract/s (leakers are strongly encouraged as the EPO should not sign such things secretly). Last year we asked, "Is the EPO Pushing Prepared 'Articles' (Ghostwriting)?"
It certainly seems so still.
"Just for information," one reader told us today. "The posting on Tech Rights links to an EPO press release and says: "This press release does not name a PR firm, for a change." But if you look carefully at the press release web page (see also the PDF version) it names the author as Peter Gorman of Shepard Fox Communications and even gives a contact phone number in the US:
Contact Information Peter Gorman Shepard Fox Communications +1 617-669-4329
"So we know that the EPO is once against contracting people in the US for a European event."The "inventor award" is a symptom of a much broader problem, not just the passage of EPO money to the media but also rewards to frauds and charlatans, as we noted several hours ago. Is Battistelli the latest person to net a 'fat' reward, 'laundered' through "inventor award" contacts? Many EPO insiders certainly feel that way.
"He will be held accountable the sooner or the later," told us one reader. "He has also enemies in is own political party. I even believe this is the reason why the right wing party is split in St Germain. I had heard rumours, but even there people are afraid to talk: there was a "unexplained" casualty in St Germain about 10 years ago."
"Is Battistelli the latest person to net a 'fat' reward, 'laundered' through "inventor award" contacts? Many EPO insiders certainly feel that way."We'll probably get to that too at one stage. It took about 10 years for Battistelli's political patron (who it rumoured to have given Battistelli the job at the EPO) to face the music. Justice can be very slow. Especially when it comes to well-connected people in positions of power (or even immunity).
"I have detected something suspicious," the reader continued. "According to the agenda available in Internet, the next session of the town council is to be held on 21st. June. According to the video recording the next session is planned on 23rd May. Are they trying to hide something?"
We've asked around. "Good question," told us another reader. "The last council meeting was held on 11 April 2018," this reader noted. "At the very end of the video recording -- at around 1:26:20 -- the mayor (Arnaud Péricard) reminds the councillors that the next meeting is scheduled for 23 May and that it will be an "important session".
"However, the online agenda lists the next meeting on 28 June. If they are trying to hide something then all they have to do is to declare the meeting to be a "closed session".
"It took about 10 years for Battistelli's political patron (who it rumoured to have given Battistelli the job at the EPO) to face the music.""The following statement can be found on the council's webpage: Dans certains cas, le Maire peut donner la parole une fois que la séance est close. Les interventions du public et leurs réponses par les élus ne sont pas inscrites dans le compte-rendu du Conseil municipal.
[Translation: In some cases, the Mayor may give the floor once the meeting is closed. Public interventions and their responses by elected officials are not recorded in the minutes of City Council.]
"Maybe if it has been declared a closed session in advance, it doesn't appear on the online agenda. Either this is an accidental slip-up or it's a deliberate attempt to hide something. It definitely seems fishy but it's impossible to know for sure what is going on without inside information."
Stay tuned as we have plenty more coming regarding the "inventor award" and politicians at the council are paying attention (whether or not "big" publishers write about it). ⬆