Police hand cash-for-honours file to CPS
Deborah Summers, politics editor
Friday April 20, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Detectives investigating the cash-for-honours allegations have finished their inquiries and today handed a dossier to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The Metropolitan police said that the 216-page document was handed over together with supporting material.
The Met said in a statement: "It is now a matter for the CPS to consider the evidence, advise us on whether any further inquiries are necessary and whether any charges should be brought."
The CPS confirmed it had received the file from the Metropolitan police, and said it will now be looked at "to determine whether any individuals should be charged with any offences".
It is not yet clear whether the CPS will decide that charges should be brought. However, the fact that a file has been given to prosecutors suggests police believe they do have a case.
It could be several weeks or months before any decision is made.
The statement said that the file was the 12th submission to the CPS made by the police team led by Assistant Commissioner John Yates.
Altogether 136 people - including Tony Blair and Michael Howard, the former Tory leader - have been questioned in the course of the investigation, either as witnesses or suspects, and 6,300 documents have been passed to prosecutors.
Three people remain on police bail: Mr Blair's chief fundraiser, Lord Levy, No 10 aide Ruth Turner, and wealthy Labour party backer Sir Christopher Evans.
Scotland Yard was called in to investigate claims that peerages were sold for cash. During the course of the inquiry the police also investigated whether Lord Levy - still Tony Blair's special Middle East envoy - and Ms Turner were involved in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both have strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Mr Blair has been interviewed twice by police, not under caution, over the affair - the first time a serving prime minister has been part of a police investigation. Lord Levy and Ms Turner have both been arrested twice. So far there have been no charges.
The Scotland Yard investigation was sparked by claims early last year that wealthy Labour backers were being rewarded with seats in the House of Lords in return for providing secret loans. The scope of the inquiry was then widened to cover similar claims about the Conservatives.
The police also considered whether the £30m worth of secret loans given to both parties before the election were properly declared.
The police investigation - under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925 - was launched following a complaint by Angus MacNeil, a Scottish National party MP.
It followed the disclosure that the House of Lords Appointments Commission had blocked the award of peerages to four wealthy Labour backers who gave undisclosed loans to the party in the run-up to the 2005 general election.
Meanwhile, the renowned Wino Guido misses this story...
Hat-Tip to Chris Paul for this story.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
2 comments:
Three bits at the end of the Grauniad article tend to stick out..
1. "The decision on whether to bring any charges will be made by Carmen Dowd, head of the special crime division at the CPS."
Identification of the person responsible to maximise pressure to conform ?
2. "The director of public prosecutions, Sir Ken Macdonald, has said that he will stand back from any decision as he was for three years a member of Matrix Chambers, where Mr Blair's wife, Cherie, also practises."
Ho hum. So the DPP had no input into who would make the decision then ? And will have no influence over what happens to the poor soul if she makes the 'wrong' decision ?
3. "The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, may also be consulted about any prosecution."
Might just as well shred the file now then...
I try not to be TOO cynical, but I don't see a momentous result in the offing.
maneatingcheesesandwich:
As I understand it, Carmen Dowd is in theory going to be the decision-maker because of Macdonald's conflict of interest. Then we have threatened input from Lord Goldsmith with an even greater conflict of interest. We already know that he has shown his untrustworthiness in changing his legal advice to suit Tony Blair in support of the Iraq war, and over the decision not to proceed with the Saudi arms deal and BAE Systems prosecution.
On the face of it, it doesn't look good. Ideally, the crooked Lord Goldsmith should have no involvement. They might go through the motions once Blair leaves Number 10, with Levy and Turner, but I have a feeling that somehow the prosecution will "cock up" to allow the defence to win the case.
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