FAT CAT SHAME
Executives responsible for unsafe Grenfell Tower cladding banked over £100million since deadly fire
The Grenfell Inquiry blamed council officials for failing to scrutinise the firms’ dodgy design and material choices
EXECUTIVES at companies responsible for unsafe Grenfell Tower cladding have banked more than £100million since the fire claimed 72 lives.
One has bought a seafront mansion and another drives a Bond-themed Aston Martin.
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The Grenfell Inquiry blamed council officials for failing to scrutinise the firms’ dodgy design and material choices, or ensure a £10million revamp complied with building regs.
Kensington and Chelsea Council’s then leader, Tory Nicholas Paget-Brown, has been succeeded by Elizabeth Campbell, who yesterday apologised “unreservedly”.
The inquiry found French firm Arconic “deliberately concealed” dangers posed by its products which “acted as a source of fuel” for the fire.
Its ex-boss, Tim Myers, has been paid £23.9million and cashed in £22.3million of shares since the tragedy.
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And its chief financial officer, Erick Asmussen, and chief commercial officer Mark Vrablec have since made a combined £18.4million.
Celotex, owned by French giant Saint-Gobain, supplied the majority of the insulation panels installed over Grenfell’s facade during the refurbishment.
The rest were made by Irish manufacturer Kingspan but installed without its knowledge.
From the fire to his resignation in 2021, Saint-Gobain boss Pierre-Andre de Chalendar was paid £11.7million.
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Benoit Bazin, his successor, has since earned £15.8million.
The inquiry found the Celotex panels released toxic gas as they burned.
Kingspan’s Irish billionaire founder Eugene Murtagh has banked £149.3million from shares and salary since the tragedy.
Only manslaughter charges will bring justice, families of Grenfell victims blast as report lays bare raft of failings
His son Gene, the group’s CEO since 2005, made £26million and bought a £7million seafront home in Dalkey, Dublin, a year after the fire, it was reported.
Sir Martin found Kingspan was not directly responsible for the fire but showed "complete disregard for fire safety" in how it marketed one of its products.
It also showed "deeply entrenched and persistent dishonesty…In pursuit of commercial gain".
The lead contractor in the £10million Grenfell renovation, Rydon, is led by Robert Bond, who drives an Aston with a personalised number plate and lives in a gated mansion.
The inquiry heard Rydon cut costs by switching zinc cladding for dangerous aluminium composite.
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SUN SAYS: Lethal lies
THE deadly dossier of deceit, incompetence and neglect behind the Grenfell disaster is beyond comprehension.
It beggars belief that almost every organisation involved was crooked, dishonest or lethally useless. But those are the exhaustive inquiry’s conclusions.
What unites them all is their total indifference to the potential for catastrophe as safety rules were flouted or dodged . . . a callous disregard for the risk being taken with other people’s lives. And 72 died as a result.
Manufacturers of the cladding panels used to renovate the West London tower lied about their flammability and cheated safety tests.
Architects and contractors were “cavalier” about fire regulations, as was the Grenfell tenant management firm.
Safety certificates were issued without proper checks. Politicians, local and national, were indecisive, complacent or negligent. The fire brigade was poorly led and ill-trained for such a horror.
It is agonising for the bereaved families that it will be 2027 at the earliest before anyone faces the music. A decade since the inferno — and during which some fatcat bosses at these rogue firms have continued to make vast fortunes.
It is appalling it will take so long — but justice MUST be done.
Manslaughter charges must follow.
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