[A-List] UK state: Mittal scandal

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Vaz's visa joke fuels row over Mittal affair

DEBORAH SUMMERS
The Herald, 20 February 2002 

      KEITH VAZ, the former Foreign Office minister,
      joked openly about how he could arrange a visa for
      a Bollywood film producer at a reception attended
      by the Indian tycoon at the centre of the "Steelgate"
      affair, it emerged last night.

      A video obtained by Channel 4 News showed Mr
      Vaz - currently banned from the Commons -
      bantering with producer Subhash Ghai at a film
      launch in London held in July 2000.

      "If you want to do any filming in the House of
      Commons, let me know," he told Mr Ghai to
      laughter from the audience. Or even if you want to
      come to the Foreign Office, we'd be very pleased
      to meet you there. Because I do also happen to be
      minister for visas, not that I'm counting using this
      against you, but if there's even the tiniest thing
      you'd like me to do, just let me know."

      The event was also attended by Lakshmi Mittal,
      who is currently at the centre of questions about
      Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for his bid to
      buy a Romanian steelworks, even though his
      company was registered in a Caribbean tax haven.

      Also present were the controversial Hinduja
      brothers, Gopichand and Srichand, who were at
      the centre of the so-called cash-for-passports affair
      which led to the resignation of Peter Mandelson as
      Northern Ireland secretary.

      Mr Vaz left the Government last year amid a welter
      of allegations about his financial affairs and is
      currently serving a one-month suspension from the
      Commons for obstructing a standards watchdog
      inquiry. Although his comments on the video were
      clearly intended to be light-hearted, they are likely to
      increase the unease about Labour's contacts with
      wealthy donors like Mr Mittal.

      As the Mittal affair rumbled on, senior Labour
      politicians and business leaders yesterday stepped
      up the pressure on Tony Blair to hold a full inquiry
      into the affair.

      Lord Paul, the Labour peer and chairman of the
      Caparo Group specialising in steel and engineering
      products, said Mr Blair's team was guilty of a
      "slip-up", while Kate Hoey, former sports minister,
      went further by signalling support for an
      investigation.

      Graham Mackenzie, head of British steel firm Allied
      Steel and Wire, said the prime minister should say
      sorry for backing a Labour donor's business deal
      he claimed would hit the UK industry. He warned
      that Mr Blair had been naive "at best" in supporting
      Lakshmi Mittal's bid for Romanian steel firm Sidex.

      "At worst, it was a deliberate slight on the UK steel
      sector," Mr Mackenzie said. "The very least I'd have
      thought he owes us (is) an apology, and he needs
      to follow that up with some very specific action by
      this government to revitalise UK manufacturing and
      to give some specific help to the hard-pressed
      steel sector."

      But Downing Street remained unrepentant
      yesterday, claiming there were no grounds for an
      apology. Earlier, a spokesman for Mr Mittal
      confirmed the billionaire, who gave £125,000 to
      Labour, avoids paying UK tax on the bulk of his
      personal fortune through his 'non-domicile" status,
      a loophole the party reportedly promised to shut.

Full article at:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/20-2-19102-23-55-8.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx