UK Goverment asks Argentina for our cash back..

[Milo Minderbinder]

It seems that we loaned Argentina the cash to buy the Type 42s and their Lynx....
Just as well we didn't sink them along with the Belgrano

UK confirms it claims repayment of £ 45m loaned to Argentine Junta that invaded the Falklands — MercoPress (http://en.mercopress.com/2012/04/11/uk-confirms-it-claims-repayment-of-45m-loaned-to-argentine-junta-that-invaded-the-falklands)

"A government spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday the UK claims repayment of a debt owed by the Argentine government. The £ 45 million (71 million dollars) were lent to the country’s (1976/1983) military Junta in 1979.

The money was reportedly used, in part, to buy weapons and equipment some of which were later used at the Malvinas war, “including two Lynx helicopters and two Type 42 warships,” as the newspaper Financial Times stated as it broke the story on Monday."

What £45million then worth now? Enough to buy another Type 45?

[500N]

We should have sunk the lot, whether it was on the open seas
or in the habour and taught them a real lesson once and for all
about taking on the UK.

[MAINJAFAD]

But we got a some good radars, guns and Helicopters off the Argies for free. :D:D:D Of course we then had problems getting support from the people who sold that kit to the Argies cause they hadn't been paid for what they sold either.:ugh::ugh::ugh:

[oggers]

Oh the irony.

[Cows getting bigger]

I can't help wondering how the Agentinians will respectfully decline. :rolleyes:

[Wander00]

I guess Osborne won't be holding his breath...or checking the Government bank statement looking for the credit coming in

[TBM-Legend]

I guess the UK can take it as a bad debt tax deduction!

[JFZ90]

Is it true that mercedes officially refused to support the 'acquired' merc g wagon (that is now in Cosford?) due to the fact it was not paid for?

[L J R]

Time to send in the debt collectors.....From Hereford and Poole..

[Pontius Navigator]

JFZ, so I believe and much other besides.

I just hope the Argies don't give us the kit back rather than the money.

And £45m? How much Operational bonus or HtD or CEA would that cover?

[Seaking93]

Is it true that mercedes officially refused to support the 'acquired' merc g wagon (that is now in Cosford?) due to the fact it was not paid for?

I had a similar experience with one of the Mercs, when my local garage contacted Mercedes with the chassis number etc to get spares they were asked how they had obtained the vehicle, where was it, did they know that it had not been paid for etc. They did however supply the required spares and the vehicle was allocated a Q plate(vehicle of unknown origin) by the local DVLA office, who in fact were very helpful at the time and the vehicle was used for about 10 years on the road. In fact we ended up with 2 more liberated G-Wagons over the following years and all 3 are currently held in store for possible future use. Until we got the third example I had not realised that there were 2 versions, short and long wheel base, we realised it when we tried to load it on a trailer, but thats another story.

[VX275]

Is it true that mercedes officially refused to support the 'acquired' merc g wagon (that is now in Cosford?) due to the fact it was not paid for?


That's how I understand it.
Mercedes were also a bit miffed at the size of the next contract for vehicles that went to the usual Solihul based supplier of muddy wheels. Especially so when they were told that if they hadn't been so stubborn about the G Wagon spares (For all those we found on the islands not just the one now at Cosford) they would have got the contract for the new vehicles.

[knowitall]

"Is it true that mercedes officially refused to support the 'acquired' merc g wagon"

they also attempted to sue Argentina for payment in the German courts only to to be told that foreign military sales on credit weren't legal in Germany thus the debt wasn't recoverable.


whoops

[Peter Carter]

Surely the Government can confirm Argentina's charitable status and then reclaim the tax..
Or perhaps it doesn't work like that.

[Halton Brat]

Gutersloh mid-1980's; OC 18 Sqn's hack was one of the Argie Merc jeeps.

230 Sqn stole said vehicle & gave it a new 'Tiger Stripe' paint job.

OC 18's sense of humour well tested...........

HB

[RetiredSHRigger]

Halton Brat,


It was also available for hire on the sqn.:ok:

[Trim Stab]

The UK Government should never have lent the Junta the money in the first place.

The Junta was never elected by the Argentine people, so expecting the Argentine people to now pay back the loan is wrong. The UK government should do credit checks before they start lending money to dictatorships!

[Marcantilan]

Besides the war prizes, Argentina have made certain payments in advance of other Lynxs and other military hardware. The contract was halted and no money came back.

Also, some Rolls Royce engines for MB-339 were on overhaul in the UK and never returned.

Regards!

[Navy_Adversary]

Does Argentina have 45,000,000?, probably not, we'll have it in tins of Fray Bentos then.:ok:

[B Fraser]

What's the compound interest on £45M since 1982 at Barclays base plus 1% added to the cost of removing them from The Falklands ?

Come to think of it, I wonder if our neighbours across La Manche were ever paid for their fireworks ? If not then it serves them right.

[Pontius Navigator]

Marcantilan, not without precedent:

Sultan Osman I (ex Brazilian Rio De Janeiro)
Built by Armstrong, Elswick. Laid down 10/1910, cancelled. Redesigned, laid down again 14 Sept 1911, launched 22 Jan 1913. Sold to Turkey 9 Jan 1914, renamed Sultan Osman I.

Completed 8/1914, immediately prior to the war, but delivery was delayed until the war started, then she was seized. Taken over by England 3 Aug 1914, renamed Agincourt.

[Ivan Rogov]

All the makings of another own goal from the UK Government, lets remind everyone that we supported a despised regime in South America
National Reorganization Process - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reorganization_Process)
We were so keen it appears that we didn't even want the cash on delivery.

This will allow Kirchner to portray us as the evil British Imperialist who were partly responsible for their past woes. Lets stick to the UN and common sense, are politicians are not exactly at the top of their Strategic game and should stick to the KISS principle.

[NutLoose]

Perhaps they plan to give us shares in their new oil company......

Argentina has sent shock waves through the oil industry by announcing plans to nationalise local oil assets controlled by Spanish company Repsol.
Mr Hague warned the move by President Cristina Fernadez to take over a large part of YPF, the country's biggest oil company, was part of a wider protectionist agenda.
Repsol would see its stake reduced from 57% to 6% as a result, potentially losing billions of dollars.



Repsol Takeover: William Hague Criticises Argentina Plans To Nationalise Oil Company | World News | Sky News (http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16211089)

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Totally irrelevant to the the topic but I wonder why the Republic of Spain Oil Company kept its trade name after their king was given his throne back? Anyway, it was clearly a great move for South American solidarity; Chavez applauds Argentina (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/business/business-news/chavez-applauds-argentinas-seizure-of-spanish-oil-assets-7653627.html)

[[email protected]]

Does Argentina have 45,000,000?, probably not, we'll have it in tins of Fray Bentos then Why? Will the Argentines have to raid Uruguay for all those tins of Fray Bentos? Geography check:ok:


GBZ - I think Chavez needs friends at the moment - he is the one supplying oil to Syria.

[MFC_Fly]

And Fray Bentos is a brand of Premier Foods, a British Company :D

They used to be made at the Campbells factory in Kings Lynn until it closed and Baxters of Fochabers (Morayshire, Scotland) are about to build a big expansion to make them in the future. Not sure where they are made in between the closure of Kings Lynn and the opening of Fochabers, but almost certainly in the UK.

[tucumseh]

As reported by the RAF's Inspector of Flight Safety in 1992, we "benefitted" from the fact the Argentineans had better and more up to date technical pubs for their aircraft. So much so, that when the "captured" Chinook pubs were compared with the crap we had, henceforth the RAF used the Argentinean ones, despite theirs being a different model of Chinook. One assumes they'll seek a rebate for this. :oh:

[MAINJAFAD]

I think there were a number of Skyguard Radars (plus their guns) and a couple of A/N-TPS Radars that we had problems getting support for as well, due to the fact that their makers hadn't been paid by the Argies.

[[email protected]]

BBC NEWS | Americas | Uruguay serves up slice of history (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7682670.stm)

[MFC_Fly]

Why? Will the Argentines have to raid Uruguay for all those tins of Fray Bentos?That, to me, reads as tins of the product with the trade name of Fray Bentos not tins of a product from the town of Fray Bentos (that would have been written as '...all those tins from Fray Bentos'), two different things crab ;)

And interesting as the BBC news article that you linked to is, again all it is reporting is that the town of Fray Bentos is exporting corned beef - nowhere does it state that it is exporting the product with the trade name Fray Bentos. The only mention of that trade name is the journalistic use of the photo of the old label and the link of the former export of corned beef to the fame of the name of that town. :ok:

Anyway, back to the original topic...

[Roadster280]

Fray Bentos corned dog = the same as any other corned dog. Lovely!

Fray Bentos tinned pies = the same as any other tinned pies. Disgusting.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Blame the Vestey family. They started it when they scarpered off to Argentina to avoid taxes after a bust up with Lloyd-George

If the stories circulating back in the 1960's were correct they did some dodgy deals back in the 1940's with Germany. My father used to cuss them every time we passed one of their shops
(if you wonder who I mean, think Dewhirsts, MacFisheries, Blue Star shipping....)

[NutLoose]

Didn't the GWagons 18 Sqn brought back have some issues, I seem to remember that when they went to get some spares for them, Mercedes asked for them back as they hadn't been paid for, they were told to take that up with Argentina.

[Heathrow Harry]

Golf Bravo Zulu -

It's NOT REPublic of Spain Oil Ltd - it's

REfinería de Petróleos y Escombreras plus the word SOL for sun

REPSOL used to be known as Hispanoil until 1986 when the Spanish Govt pulled together all its hydrocarbon companies into one organisation - Escomberas is where their main refinery was/is