HC Deb 22 November 1976 vol 919 cc1866-7
13. Mr. Canavan

asked the Secretary of State for Trade how many inquiries his Department is conducting currently under Section 109 of the Companies Act 1967.

Mr. Clinton Davis

Forty-three.

Mr. Canavan

If my hon. Friend grants my request for an investigation into the affairs of Scottish and Universal Investments Ltd., will he try to find out exactly what happened to the £4 million discrepancy in its balance sheets? In particular, will he try to find out whether any of that money went directly or indirectly to any political party, as the company chairman, Sir Hugh Fraser, who was also involved in some of the suspicious share dealings, is a well-known financial supporter of the Scottish National Party, which in my constituency has previously been found guilty of cooking the books in its election returns?

Mr. Davis

It is not the Department's practice to disclose when and the manner in which it carries out confidential investigations.

Mr. Ridley

On a point of order—

Mr. Speaker

Will the hon. Gentleman be kind enough to follow recent custom and raise his point of order at the end of Question Time?

Later—

Mr. Ridley

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I wish to raise a point of order arising out of Question No. 13.

The hon. Member for West Stirlingshire (Mr. Canavan), in a supplementary question, implied that a citizen outside this House, Sir Hugh Fraser, had made large-scale donations to a political party, which he did not disclose in the accounts of his company. I am no supporter of the Scottish National Party to which Sir Hugh is supposed to have made these donations, but I believe that it would be quite wrong for an hon. Member to make allegations of this sort, suggesting that a citizen has broken the law, unless he can produce evidence to substantiate it. I would have thought that you would ask the hon. Member either to withdraw his allegations or to repeat them outside of this House so that the aggrieved citizen can take the necessary legal action. I hope that you will consider that it is a serious breach of the privileges of the House for the hon. Member to be able to make allegations of this sort and get away with them.

Mr. Canavan

Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I merely asked the Minister to inquire into this and find out exactly what the truth is so that we may know where this £4 million went. The other point I made in my supplementary question—and it is well known in Scotland—was that Sir Hugh Fraser gives financial assistance to the Scottish National Party. That is common knowledge and I shall repeat it outside of this House.

Mr. Speaker

When an hon. Member refers to people outside of this House he takes upon himself the responsibility for so doing. That is a long-established custom.