[guide.chat] labour m p steals money
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2012 15:21:58 +0100
Secret police probe into Labour MP's £500,000
A police investigation into a high-profile Labour MP discovered that he
apparently held hundreds of thousands of pounds in a series of bank accounts,
The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Keith Vaz at the Labour party conference in Manchester Photo: Eddie Mulholland
By Robert Winnett, Holly Watt and Claire Newell9:55PM BST 30 Sep 2012
The Scotland Yard inquiry said funds believed to have been ?of a suspicious
nature? were paid into current and savings accounts in the name of or linked to
Keith Vaz, a minister in the previous Labour government.
Detectives found that over a six-year period, almost £500,000 was apparently
deposited in the MP?s accounts ? in addition to his salary between 1997 and
2001.
The source of the funds has not been declared publicly and the evidence
gathered by police may contradict assurances given by Mr Vaz during an
investigation into his finances between 2000 and 2001 carried out by parliament.
The Labour MP has denied any wrongdoing and claims that any money passing
through his bank accounts came from the proceeds of property deals. The
Metropolitan Police is facing calls to hand evidence it collected to the
parliamentary commissioner for standards, who can reopen an inquiry into
allegations first made a decade ago.
Mr Vaz is chairman of the home affairs select committee, charged with holding
the police and Whitehall to account. Whitehall sources claimed that he had not
been vetted for the role, unlike holders of other senior offices, and a
Conservative MP called for him to step down while the matter was clarified.
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The Daily Telegraph has seen a police document in which detectives claim to
have established that £28,959 in cash was paid into an HSBC account held by Mr
Vaz during a single year. The MP and his wife also held a series of other
accounts at different banks that were also examined by police.
In an internal briefing document circulated within Scotland Yard, detectives
expressed their belief that ?the level of funds received ? are of a suspicious
nature?.
During the period under investigation, Mr Vaz made no formal disclosures in the
parliamentary register of interests of any outside sources of income. He said
last night that he did not have any outside income.
The Metropolitan Police secretly applied for production orders for seven
different high-street banks, which were required to provide details of the
accounts they held for Mr Vaz and his wife, Maria Fernandes. Sources claim that
Sir Richard Wilson, who was Cabinet Secretary from 1998 to 2002, was briefed by
the police about the investigation?s findings. It is not known if Tony Blair,
who was prime minister at the time, was also made aware of the information.
Mr Vaz was investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards between
2000 and 2001 after it was alleged that he may have benefited from money paid
by a solicitor and the billionaire Hinduja brothers.
The minister was forced to resign and was suspended from parliament for seeking
to frustrate the investigation by refusing to provide financial information.
Elizabeth Filkin, who was the parliamentary commissioner, resigned soon after
the inquiry amid allegations that she had been undermined. However, Mr Vaz was
cleared of the central allegation of receiving illicit funds.
Andrew Bridgen, a Tory MP said Mr Vaz had ?questions to answer? and he would be
writing to the parliamentary standards commissioner today. ?I feel that he
cannot continue to hold his role with the home affairs select committee during
an investigation and call on him to stand down,? he said.
The Metropolitan Police refused to comment.
The Daily Telegraph has established that in June 2001, in the wake of the
parliamentary inquiry into Mr Vaz, a report on the MP was filed to the National
Intelligence Criminal Service (NICS). A Scotland Yard document says that a
report made to the NICS stated: ?News reports have linked Vaz to the Hinduja
brothers passport application affair and imply that he may have received
payments.
?Investigations into credits in 1998 show in excess of £58k was paid into the
savings account and over £24k into the current account. These payments contain
significant amounts of cash and do not appear to be salary payments. In view of
the allegations against Vaz and reports that he did not fully comply with the
standards commissioner when questioned during the inquiry, we believe that the
level of funds received during 1998 are of a suspicious nature.?
The police documents claim that before the 1997 election, £13,908 was paid into
the HSBC accounts and £9,247 taken out. However, in 1997 the amount apparently
rose to £136,566 paid in and £130,427 taken out; rising again in 1998 to
£187,103 paid in, including nearly £29,000 in cash, and £191,999 taken out. The
following year, £120,394 was deposited and £123,991 withdrawn. In 2000, when
the first parliamentary investigation into Mr Vaz?s conduct began, the deposits
fell to £8,410.
The police report stated that another account was used for salary payments. It
concluded: ?There are numerous unexplained payments into the accounts and large
transfers between accounts that require further investigation.?
It is understood that Scotland Yard was unable to establish the source of the
funds in question or prove any criminal misconduct. A Whitehall source said
that what was uncovered was ?a matter for parliament rather than for the
police?.
During the period in question, Mr Vaz collected an annual salary of between
£43,860 and £82,697.
Of central significance is a company called Mapesbury Communications set up by
Mr Vaz in 1994 to receive earnings from outside parliament. It was run by his
wife. Mr Vaz told the parliamentary commissioner that he had never received any
payments from Mapesbury.
However, Scotland Yard stated: ?At least one payment has been received into
this [HSBC] personal account from Mapesbury Communications Ltd. A point which
Vaz has strongly denied.?
Last night, Mr Vaz said this information was incorrect.
Mr Vaz resigned as Europe minister in June 2001 in the midst of the
parliamentary inquiry into his conduct and was never reappointed to government
by Mr Blair. In a statement last night, he strongly denied any wrongdoing.
?These matters relate to two parliamentary inquiries which began in 1999 and
concluded in 2003,? he said. ?My finances were discussed by every newspaper in
the country for a period of three years and were the subject of extensive
examination.
?All ministers have to report all their financial interests to their permanent
secretary, which I did. I had no discussions with the then cabinet secretary or
the then prime minister about any of these issues. I know of no investigation.?
The MP also added that he ?had never banked with HSBC?.
However, in his parliamentary expenses files, copies of which have also been
seen by The Daily Telegraph, Mr Vaz refunded money to parliament using a cheque
from an account held at First Direct, which is part of HSBC.
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