No 10 investigated for perversion of justice

Rajeev Syal
The Times
Dec. 20, 2006

# Loans for honours cover-up suspected
# Aides to be questioned about hampering

Downing Street aides and Labour officials involved in the cash-for-honours inquiry are being investigated on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, The Times has learnt.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has advised detectives to look into suspected attempts to hamper the nine-month investigation. Some e-mails and documents have yet to be handed over to the police while others have apparently “disappeared”. Some individuals are suspected of colluding over evidence.

The disclosure shows that the investigation has widened to include a suspected cover-up by those around the Prime Minister. Until now, it has centred on the Ł14 million in secret loans made to the Labour Party by millionaire supporters.

A prosecution source said: “There is more than a suspicion that evidence has not been handed over, people have colluded and the police are not being helped.

“It has been noted that when the Watergate scandal forced President Nixon to resign, it was the cover-up, not the burglary, that brought him down. What these people should remember is that they are not dealing with a parliamentary inquiry; this is a criminal investigation and anyone failing to co-operate is participating in a criminal offence.”

Up to this point the charges being considered come under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925, which makes it an offence to take money as an inducement or reward for procuring an honour, and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000, which restricts the sources of donations.

The possibility of charges on perverting the course of justice was discussed by CPS lawyers after meetings with police. Such charges can be brought if a person tries to interfere with an investigation that might bring criminal proceedings. The charge, which carries a maximum life sentence, was used against Jonathan Aitken and Jeffrey Archer. According to the CPS, “it does not matter whether or not the act results in a perversion of the course of justice: the offence is committed when acts tending and intended to pervert a course of justice are done”.

The news that Labour figures are being investigated for alleged offences going well beyond the initial scope of the cash-for-honours inquiry will come as a bombshell to the party. Were charges to be brought, the issue could dominate politics for months, if not years.

Labour had been hoping that the investigation and any resulting action would be over before Mr Blair leaves office, giving Gordon Brown, almost certain to be his successor, a chance to make a fresh start. Charges as serious as perverting the course of justice could mean that the party will have a cloud hanging over it for much longer.

The police inquiry began in March after the House of Lords rejected nominations for four millionaire backers — Chai Patel, Sir Gulam Noon, Sir David Garrard and Barry Townsley — whose names were put forward by the Prime Minister for peerages. A team of eight detectives based in Scotland Yard has interviewed at least 90 people and set a timetable of “early 2007” to submit a final case file to the CPS.

Of those interviewed, 35 were from Labour, 29 from the Conservatives and four from the Liberal Democrats. The remaining 22 were leading civil servants in the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, or nonpolitical company directors.

Three people have been arrested as part of the inquiry. They are Lord Levy, the Prime Minister’s personal fundraiser, Des Smith, a government adviser, and Sir Crhistopher Evans, the biotech tycoon who lent Labour Ł1 million. They deny any wrongdoing. No one has been charged in the inquiry.

On Thursday Mr Blair became the first serving Prime Minister to be interviewed by police undertaking a criminal inquiry. He was not questioned under caution. This newspaper revealed on Saturday that his evidence contradicted that of his close friend, Lord Levy, who will now be interviewed again.

After the interview Mr Blair defended his decision to nominate the four Labour businessmen by claiming that they were nominated for services to the Labour Party. His claim has been contradicted by key documents leaked to a newspaper this weekend that show that they were nominated for services to education, health or charities, not to the party.

Others who will also be quizzed for a second time include Jonathan Powell, No 10’s Chief of Staff, Ruth Turner, director of government relations, and John McTernan, director of political relations. All three are known to have denied any wrongdoing. The Times revealed last month that Mr Powell, Blair’s most trusted aide, will now be questioned under caution.

# Downing Street has dismissed an alleged internal memo suggesting that the Government was seen as a “shambles”. The paper, disclosed by The Mail on Sunday, expressed concern that the party was viewed as riven by internal conflicts and lacking “grip and competence on vital issues”. The author was not named and No 10 said: “This is not a Downing Street memo.”