Chocolate-coated Piranha - Mike Smallman

Chocolate Coated Pirahna, is an uplifting, thought provoking, jaw dropping read. It is written as an autobiography which covers the first forty-nine years of Michael Smallman's life (aka Mr Big). This is the same Mr Big that was accused and convicted of defrauding Tony Blair's government, and the public, of £16.8 million. This is the first instalment that shows many levels of adversity, success and juxtaposed opinions in his life story. The book partially exposes what Michael accounts as government and institutional mistakes which can be compared with the post office cover up scandal. This is a story of one man's struggle which takes the reader through many emotional ups and downs. It sets the scene for the latter detail of Michael's adult life by explaining diverse childhood adversities from chronic disease and peer-bullying to extreme attacks by a predatory paedophile. Written with tongue-in-cheek humour, he also shares with the reader many different explorations he had as a child, building his entrepreneurial and risk taking skills, that many would find highly amusing.

The story continues as he, a young man, in an extreme and complex situation, found deep love only to be parted in tragic, fatal circumstances. Yet, he still had the determination and ambition to become an award winning entrepreneur and build a monumental group of businesses. Michael then recounts his experiences in finding and disclosing to the UK government notable errors in a piece of education legislation. He had opened a can of worms with significant consequences to him and his business. This legislation error impacted livelihoods, closed thousands of UK businesses, and cost the taxpayer many hundreds of millions of pounds again, showing similarities to the post office scandal. Michael explains his version of events as the national press discredited his business enterprise in what he says was "a personal vendetta" for reasons explained within the book. It delves into his accounts of "divisive powers and manipulation by the press to create prejudice". The result of which, was him being charged with several counts of fraud in what he describes as "a smokescreen of a criminal trial". It was portrayed in the national and international media as 'a most serious fraud' of its type.

Michael explains how this deflected the public away from the mistakes within the government and a high profile institution that ultimately led a senior minister to resign. He says that the focus was to take him out of circulation for good so that this story, explained within this book, could not be heard. This is a detailed exploration upon the nature of what he alleges to be a large scale multi-faceted cover-up and corruption with detailed evidence. It also covers the personal denigration of prison life, stories of camaraderie and of abject violence, death and sadness. Most people would think this book to be unbelievable; how a person can survive such a long list of adversity without serious grudges or experiencing self-harm. He maintains a never ending determination to share his story and make change a goal, not for vengeance or retribution, but to inspire. He emphasises to the world the amount of spirit that all individuals need to get through adversity and inspire those who are ready to listen. Michael hopes "that media exposure of these government and institutional cover ups will draw comparative stories from the ILA granting scheme into the open". He also wishes to have those who were involved to step forward and tell the truth without fear of any retribution on Michael's part. He wishes for all sides of the stories to be used for positive, forward thinking that will shape the future of policing, the criminal justice system and human rights in order to make transparent the words and behaviours of people in positions of power.