EDITOR’S LETTER Anyone for Ecuador?
Is it right to go public about things that look “wrong”? Is your duty to the wider world or your employer?
Editorial Director John Howell
I
n one of those wonderful coincidences that make life so interesting, the worlds of international politics and international real estate have fallen into step. At fi rst glance, there is not much in common between the life of Edward J Snowden, the American National Security Agency contractor turned whistleblower, and the work of an accounts clerk in a property development company. Probably the items crossing the clerk’s desk are not, in absolute terms, as sensitive or of such international interest and importance. Yet (ignoring the possibility that Mr Snowden is a self serving publicist, deranged, a traitor or any combination of these) both appear to treat their job seriously and the moral and legal dilemma they face is the same. They both see something happening in their offi ce that seems morally wrong and, probably, illegal. In the case of Mr Snowden, it was the extensive and secret surveillance of the public. In the case of the clerk it was an apparent black hole in the company accounts: money being received from buyers and going missing or not being used for the purpose for which it was agreed.
So should the clerk tell the police? 04
Should he tell the press? Should he fi rst raise his concerns with his employer and, if so, at what level? By going public, will he be treated as the hero of the hour or as a pariah: a criminal, wanted by the FBI? Will he and his family have to leave their home in XXXX and fl ee to Hong Kong, Moscow and Ecuador? These were the issues raised in an anonymous telephone call I received – my fi rst such call as
I received an anonymous telephone call
OPP Editor. It came as a result of last month’s Round Table article, “The High Price of Failed Projects”. I told him he would have to take legal advice and, with my eye on a good story, asked him to keep me informed about what was going on. He was not the only person who responded to that article. Overwhelmingly, you say that you fi nd a failure rate of 40-80% in off -plan projects completely unacceptable, but you ask what can be done about it? How can you
identify the bad guys? What should you do if you think you have found one? We will look at this subject in detail in September’s OPP. This month’s OPP deals with another moral dilemma. Maneesha Chawla has written (pages 50-52) about the living and working conditions of some workers employed in the Indian construction industry. Of course, similar conditions prevail in other countries. Should we, as an industry providing vacation homes for the wealthy or investment properties to make them even more money, accept this state of aff airs? Or should we establish a worldwide code of conduct, promote those who adhere to it and shame those who do not? As ever, I would like your views.
Finally, following our redesign – completed in this issue – we have appointed a new editor for OPP to take the project forward. Christopher Nye joins us after many years working as a journalist and with lots of experience within our industry. I hope he enjoys the job as much as I have. Me? I will continue as Editorial
Director of OPP, dealing with the whole range of OPP publications and conferences, and I will be spending time developing OPP Training.
www.opp-connect.com
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