The Hindu : It's garbage-gate, says Blair

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 15, 2002

International

International

It's garbage-gate, says Blair
By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, FEB. 14. The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has countered the growing demand for an inquiry into his Government's links with the Indian businessman, Lakshmi Mittal, with a blistering attack on his critics, dismissing the allegations of favouritism as a ``load of garbage''.

The controversy, which one official described as a ``yawnathon'', triggered bitter exchanges in Parliament with Mr. Blair accusing the Opposition of running a ``smear'' campaign against his Government, and saying that what was being portrayed as a ``Watergate'' was nothing but ``garbage-gate''.

``It's the biggest load of garbage since the last load of garbage, which was Enron,'' he told the Tory leader, Ian Duncan Smith, in his most explosive outburst in the Commons yet. He rejected Mr. Smith's demand for an inquiry into the allegation that he helped Mr. Mittal acquire Romania's biggest steel company Sidex as a favour for the Indian tycoon's donation to the Labour Party.

Mr. Smith wanted to know whether Mr. Blair knew that Mr. Mittal had donated 125,000 to Labour's election fund last year when he wrote to the Romanian Prime Minister, Adrian Nastase, backing the businessman's bid to buy Sidex in a multi- million pound deal in which a French company, Usinor, was also reported to be interested. Mr. Blair retorted that in his letter he did not mention the name of Mr. Mittal but of his company - LNM Holdings - and then added that even if he had known that he was a Labour Party supporter, ``it would have made no difference whatsoever to the signing of the letter.''

The Prime Minister taunted the Tories saying that considering that some of their own leading members ``are either in jail or just come out of jail'' it did not lie in their mouth to accuse Labour of sleaze. He reminded them that the last Tory Government was voted out on the issue of corruption.

For all his bravado, however, his critics were not impressed and said they would continue to press for a thorough probe into what they alleged was yet another example of Labour indulging big business in return for large donations. Official claims that Mr. Blair wrote the letter at the behest of the British Ambassador in Bucharest and in the larger interest of Anglo-Romanian trade did not cut ice with the Opposition and the Tory vice-chairman, Tim Collins, insisted that the Government had not been upfront about its relations with Mr. Mittal.

``I don't know why they simply don't just put a `for hire' sign on top of 10, Downing Street and have done with it,'' he told BBC Radio 4.

The row, which has embarrassed the Government even though its opponents have yet to produce a ``smoking gun'', came as the Labour MP and a former Minister, Keith Vaz, was on Wednesday formally suspended from the Commons for a month for not cooperating into a parliamentary inquiry into his business links.

It also emerged that Mr. Mittal's Irish steel company which he acquired in 1996 in a privatisation deal similar to Sidex was in deep trouble, having run up a debt of over 30 million and laid off 400 workers. This was said to be a blow to Mr. Mittal's image as a man with a ``magic touch'' who buys sick steel plants and then miraculously turns them into profit-making ventures. ``The Irish experience clearly gave Mr. Adrian Nastase food for thought,'' The Guardian said claiming that in the event Mr. Blair's supportive letter restored Bucharest's confidence in LNM as a reliable partner.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

Stories in this Section

We can facilitate talks: Bush

Pak., U.S. to firm up defence ties

Milosevic justifies actions

'Pak. must act before talks'

Chokila Iyer in Moscow to discuss Afghan situation

Kumaratunga for safeguards in agreement with LTTE

Kuwait still waiting for PoWs

When it rained dollars

Film shows `plot to kill Mugabe'

Bush `orders' plans to remove Saddam

Chirac move catches many off-guard

It's garbage-gate, says Blair

Pak. asks Israel to keep off S. Asia