HC Deb 25 June 1998 vol 314 cc618-9W
Mr. Fallon

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date the Financial Secretary to the Treasury was informed of the investigation into Sandline by HM Customs and Excise. [41914]

Mr. Heathcoat-Amory

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date(a) the Financial Secretary's private office and (b) the Financial Secretary were told that allegations of a breach of the UN arms embargo on Sierra Leone had been referred to HM Customs and Excise. [41883]

Mr. Hogg

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when Treasury Ministers were first informed that Her Majesty's Customs and Excise were undertaking an inquiry into the allegations that Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials may have acted unlawfully in connection with the coup in Sierra Leone. [42340]

Sir John Stanley

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date a Minister in his Department was first advised by officials that Customs and Excise had been asked to investigate the allegations against Sandline International; and who was the Minister in question. [43929]

Dawn Primarolo

[holding answers 14 and 18 May and 3 June 1998): I refer the right hon. and hon. Members to the statement made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the House during the debate on 18 May 1998, Official Report, columns 604–11, in which he announced the investigation by Sir Thomas Legg KCB QC into allegations about Government involvement with the supply of arms to Sierra Leone by UK citizens and firms, and said that the Terms of Reference would be placed in the Library of the House. The Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary intends to publish the report of the investigation.