rediff.com: Inquiry clears Mandelson: PTI

The official inquiry into the Hinduja passport affair "absolves Home Office ministers from any impropriety in the decision to grant citizenship to non-resident Indian businessmen Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja" and "clears" Peter Mandelson, who quit from the cabinet on the issue "of having lied", British media reported on Sunday.

The inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond, former treasury solicitor, "concludes that the citizenship applications by the Hinduja brothers were properly dealt with, even though they were issued in a third of the average time of 18 months", the Sunday Telegraph reported, quoting the 50-page report, expected to be presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday.

It says that in 1999, 1,125 other people were granted passports in less than six months, five per cent of the total.

Anthony, according to the daily, stated that Mandelson "did not deliberately" mislead No10 (the Prime Minister's Office).

"He even suggests that his denials, both to colleagues and to the Press, were honestly given in the muddle and confusion. Neither did Mandelson seek to influence Mike O'Brien, Home Office minister, into awarding citizenship to Hinduja (Srichand Hinduja, chairman of the Hinduja group of industries)," the report said.

Commenting that Blair and Home Secretry Jack Straw "face acute embarrassment when the official inquiry will completely clear Peter Mandelson of having lied" in the Hinduja passport affair, the newspaper said Straw will be under most pressure to respond with a public apology.

The report said, "Straw faces the humiliation of having to apologise publicly for branding the former Northern Ireland secretary a liar."

In a television interview, the home secretary had claimed that the reason his colleague resigned was that he "told an untruth".

The Sunday Observer, in an identical story tucked inside, said besides Mandelson, the other minister being investigated by the inquiry, Keith Vaz, the Foreign Office minister with responsibility for Europe, is also likely to be cleared of any wrong-doing.

According to the report, Vaz told colleagues that he regrets "topping and tailing" two letters sent by two of the Hinduja brothers to the Home Office about passport applications as a backbench MP. But he told the inquiry that he had not broken any rules and was merely acting as a conduit between the government and the two men, as he would for many leading members of the Asian community.

The Sunday Telegraph report also quoted Srichand saying on Saturday at his Bombay home, "I have never taken any favour from the government and there was no link with the one million pound donation for the (Millennium) Dome."

"It shows that Srichand Hinduja was telling the truth from day one," the report said.

According to the Sunday Telegraph, the Hammond Report also questions Blair's judgement by implying that he sacked one of his most loyal allies in a panic and under pressure from un-elected advisers. By clearing Mandelson, the report will fuel criticism of Downing Street officials who mounted attacks on the MP, including press secretary Alastair Campbell.

"Although Sir Anthony will clear Blair and Straw of any wrong-doing, the political embarrassment will be acute," it said.

The report claims that Sir Anthony goes out of his way, and far beyond the terms of his remit, to affirm Mandelson's integrity.

"The surprise 'not guilty' verdict for Mandelson will overshadow the bulk of the 20,000-word Hammond report which, as expected, absolves Home Office ministers from any impropriety in the decision to grant citizenship to the businessmen Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja," the report said.

Sir Anthony was asked to investigate after allegations that Srichand Hinduja, was granted a passport in 1999 in return for one million pound donation to the Millennium Dome.

Mandelson, then in charge of the Dome, admitted asking officials to inquire in early 1998 at Hinduja's behest to see whether citizenship - which had been refused under the Tories - would be granted.

He denied making the inquiries in person but was contradicted two months ago by Mike O'Brien, then Immigration Minister, who insisted that Mandelson had telephoned him. Blair decided that Mandelson had lied and caused the House of Commons to be misled and ordered him to resign.


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