Time and Tide - NEWS: Oops they did it again – Aussie politicians accept $250k worth

[AdminIWL]

If you’re in public office, watches can get you into a lot of trouble. Something Russian*and Chinese*politicians have learned the hard way, getting busted wearing timepieces far in excess of their declared incomes. It’s a lesson our Aussie pollies should have taken to heart, but in a mix of naiveté and poor-judgement, Australian liberal politicians managed to accidently accept a quarter of a million dollars in watches from Billionaire chair of the Li Guanchen Group, Li Ruipeng – thinking they were fakes. In June 2013 then Opposition Leader Tony Abbot, along with Ministers Ian Macfarlane and Stuart Robert, as well as Peta Credlin had dinner at Parliament house with Mr Ruipeng, who presented them five watches out of a plastic bag, one for each Minister, as well as watches for Abbott’s wife and Robert’s wife. Ian Macfarlane wore his $40,000 Rolex for months until he suspected it might have been genuine, at which point he had it valued and hurriedly returned it, as did Abbot and Roberts. That none of the MPs thought to question the gifts of a billionaire businessman with interests in Australia is worrying, especially as only a few months earlier Queensland MP Rob Molhoek publicly returned…

The post NEWS: Oops they did it again – Aussie politicians accept $250k worth of ‘fake’ watches appeared first on Time and Tide Watches.

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[geoffbot]

This amused me.

[iyonk]

i was given a square GUCCI watch from a client about 15years ago which i love very much, wore it with proud and treasure it... until 3 years ago i was told by the watch shop that it is just a fake.. (it was using miyota 2 hands quartz inside)

[geoffbot]

Don't gucci use miyota quartz movements too?!

[tempocalypse]

Their story sounds perfectly reasonable. Why would that guy gift a handful of genuine Rolexes. Its not like he's a billionai... wait...

[Raza]

I don't know what's worse. Accepting lavish gifts from billionaires looking to grease the wheels, or knowingly wearing a fake.

Actually, a fake watch might suit a politician best.....

[Seriously]

I thought these threads by AdminIWL (or Eric as I know him) were closed shortly after posting ?

How come it's still open?

Sailing close to the Politics subject too........ what what

[iyonk]

Don't gucci use miyota quartz movements too?!

Not if the dial said swiss made..

[mlcor]

Well, over on this side of the pond, Trump can buy his own damn watch.

I wonder what Hillary does, watch-wise. We all know Bill is a watch guy.

[Raza]

I imagine the Apple Watch and its ilk will be political staples for some time. Not too expensive, and they say that they can keep up with the tech-savvy youth.