3.2.2010 The Vulture Fund bill is set to come up before Parliament on the 26th February and 42 Scottish MPs have still not signed up to Early Day Motion 618, calling for the regulation of these financial scavengers. Only non-governmental MPs can sign an early day motion and If your MP such and has not already lent their support, now is the time to build the pressure! 

Follow this link to reach Jubilee Debt Campaign's template letter, asking your MP to sign the Early Day Motion and weigh in to the debate on the 26th of February.

KEEP THE PRESSURE UP BY SIGNING THE LETTER!

Keep reading to learn more about the activities of vulture funds and see how important it is that MPs take a stand against this horrible injustice.

20.01.10 A U.S. District Court Judge has given debt vultures a big win by ruling in favour of creditors that hold old Argentinean debt papers, and has frozen the New York assets of the Argentinean central bank. This is another in a developing list of cases where vulture funds have tightened their grip on poorer states and could have been curtailed by the institution of a legitimate international body charged with resolving such disputes in a fair and responsible manner. After 2002, when Argentina went through serious debt crisis and defaulted on its loans, a period of negotiations led to a third of the debt being paid and the debt holders being offered the conversion of their bonds into new loans. Some old debtors held out for a better deal and have now come to make claim of the debt owed to them. Many of the claimants have never lent money to the Argentinean Government but are vulture funds who have bought the debts from others.

Click Here to read more about Argentina's vulture problems

04.12.09 Debt Vultures Find Their Prey in Liberia - One of the world’s poorest states has the vultures circling as the investment firms Hamsah and Wall Capital have taken Liberia to court for their purchased right to reclaim debts and have been awarded over $20 million. This is precisely the kind of action that Jubilee Scotland, alongside Jubilee Debt Campaign,  has been fighting to prevent.

The work by Sally Keeble including the introduction of an Early Day Motion with the backing of 203 MPs has greatly raised awareness but without legislation these firms, set up in tax havens, can arrive in London courts with the aim legally enforcing debts on poverty stricken states to their great profit – and this has just happened again. Liberia has already been heavily targeted by such firms and has had $357 million worth of awards against them – 49% of its GDP.

Take Action Against Vulture Funds

For Background on Vulture Funds Click Here

A Scottish musician has written a song about vulure funds, click here to listen on myspace.