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The Saga Ends...Or Does It?

Prestidigitation: sleight of hand

a : a cleverly executed trick or deception
b : a conjuring trick requiring manual dexterity
c : skill and dexterity in conjuring tricks

Najib Razak "Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived... we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean." (NY Times)

Razak, Malaysia's prime minister has announced that missing flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

Razak based his announcement on new analysis by British satellite firm Inmarsat, which provided satellite data, and the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) which used that data to access the probability of the aircraft's ability to reach dry land.

The firms "have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth," Mr Razak said.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

The Aircraft is now lying on the bottom of the ocean. All souls onboard have been lost. The finality of the announcement brings closure to the family members of the passengers and crew of MH370. Oh, really?

The Malaysian government and several members of the search and rescue teams involved have publicly thanked INMARSAT for their diligent review of the data. So who exactly is INMARSAT, and what could a private company hope to gain by providing information which may be a "sleight of hand" rather than a valid end to the Saga?

We may be quite surprised to find out who is behind the global company and how their political alignments may have affected the finding.

INMARSAT is a British satellite telecommunications company offering global mobile services. It provides telephone and data services to users worldwide, via portable or mobile terminals, which communicate to ground stations through eleven geostationary telecommunications satellites. Inmarsat's network provides communications services to a range of governments, aid agencies, media outlets and businesses with a need to communicate in remote regions, or where there is no reliable terrestrial network.

The company was originally founded in 1979 as the International Maritime Satellite Organization (Inmarsat), a not-for-profit international organization, set up at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body, for the purpose of establishing a satellite communications network for the maritime community.

Originally, the model was that of Intelsat, an international consortium which provided satellite communications among the member countries. The founding member of Intelsat, and the USA member, was Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT). Comsat also took the lead in the founding of Inmarsat. Inmarsat began trading in 1982. From the beginning, the acronym "Inmarsat" was used. The intent was to create a self-financing body which would improve safety of life at sea. The name was changed to "International Mobile Satellite Organization" when it began to provide services to aircraft and portable users, but the acronym "Inmarsat" were kept. When the organization was converted into a private company in 1999, the business was split into two parts: The bulk of the organization was converted into the commercial company, Inmarsat PLC, and a small group became the regulatory body, IMSO. Inmarsat was the first international satellite organization that was privatized.

In 2005 Apax Partners and Permira bought shares in the company. The company was also first listed on the London Stock Exchange in that year. In March 2008 it was disclosed that U.S. Hedge Fund Harbinger Capital owned 28% of the company. In July 2009, Inmarsat completed the acquisition of a 19-per-cent stake in SkyWave Mobile Communications Inc., a provider of Inmarsat D+/IsatM2M network services, which in turn purchased the GlobalWave business from TransCore. On 15 April 2009, Inmarsat completed the acquisition of satellite communications provider Stratos Global Corporation (Stratos)

It would be prudent to pay particular attention to the largest single owner of INMARSAT:

Harbinger Capital

Harbinger was founded by its Senior Managing Director Philip Falcone and Harbert Management Corporation, a Birmingham, Alabama-based investment company that provided much of the original funding. Harbinger had funds under management of $26.5 billion (£13.4 billion) as of the end of June 2008. In 2009, Harbinger acquired the ownership of its funds from Harbert, although Harbert handled administrative functions for Harbinger for a short transitional period. Also in 2009, Harbinger acquired controlling stock of the Zapata Corporation and changed its name to The Harbinger Group Inc.

Harbinger has owned large stakes in The New York Times Company, Cleveland-Cliffs, and 28% stock ownership of satellite communications company Inmarsat. The company has also owned stakes in rival satellite operators SkyTerra and Terrestar.

Harbinger Capital, which owned Russell Hobbs, merged it with Spectrum Brands on June 16, 2010 for $661 million and now controls approximately 64% of the appliance maker, Spectrum.

Now as we perform our due diligence and follow the money, we find that there is one company that stands out here. Who is that you ask? Well, let's take a look at The Zapata Corporation:

Zapata Corporation

Harbinger Group Inc.(NYSE:HRG), formerly Zapata Corporation, is a holding company based in Rochester, New York, and originating from an oil company started by a group including the former United States president George H. W. Bush. Links between the company and the United States Central Intelligence Agency exist. In 2009, it was renamed the Harbinger Group Inc. in an attempt to thwart such affiliations.

Now we have come to the point in which we have asked what this "private" company could hope to gain from providing misleading data and sending the world to the southern Indian Ocean, which is the most desolate and dangerous ocean in the world.

It has been stated that FLT 370 carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations. Who were these passengers? Out of the 227, 20 were employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas - 12 were from Malaysia, and 8 from China.

Freescale was involved in a classified government project with the U.S. Department of Defense.

What is unusual is that the Malaysian government has continually refused to release the cargo list. Was there something onboard that aircraft? Perhaps something developed by the Freescale engineers and on its way to Beijing to be sold or turned over to the Chinese?

Could it be that Inmarsat is complicit in diverting the delivery of this cargo and group of engineers to Beijing?

Could it be that there are other reasons that those controlling Inmarsat do not want the truth to be told about the whereabouts of the Malaysian Boeing 777?

A little "Sleight of Hand" and the world is convinced that Flt 370 lies beneath the oceans.