§ Dr. David ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date his Department took possession of documents taken from the company BMARC; on what date these documents were handed over to the Scott inquiry; and if he will list the Ministers who had access to these documents within his Department. [18300]
§ Mr. Soames[pursuant to his answer, 4 April 1995, Official Report col 1097–98]: The Ministry of Defence Police announced on Saturday 17 June 1995, that they had found additional documents, which the force obtained in 1990 during the course of an investigation into corruption involving Astra Holdings and its subsidiaries, including BMARC. This investigation was with regard to corruption in MOD procurement contracts and resulted in successful prosecutions. The discovery was made during the course of a re-sorting of all the property stores at the MDP's headquarters at Wethersfield in Essex, which commenced in January 1995, following its relocation there. Some of these items were documents which previously belonged to Astra/BMARC. These were returned to the liquidators for Astra Holdings, to whom they belong, on 15 June 1995. Additional documents belonging to the liquidators were discovered on 16 June and will be sent to the liquidators. Other documents found, which were obtained during the original investigation, belong to the Ministry of Defence and to companies other than Astra/BMARC. The latter are being examined to verify their rightful ownership. HM Customs and Excise and the Scott inquiry have been informed. This was an operational matter for the Ministry of Defence police. A copy of their statement of 17 June 1995 is being placed in the Library of the House.
The deputy chief constable has also made it clear that he has initiated an immediate inquiry to ensure that no further documents relating to the corruption investigation remain in MDP custody; to establish how the documents came to be wrongly located and why their retention by the MDP was not recognised; and to establish what action needs to be taken to ensure that similar mistakes do not recur.