HL Deb 27 January 1999 vol 596 c155WA
Lord Spens

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will place a copy of the 4 January 1989 letter from Mr. W. B. Willott of the Department of Trade and Industry, dealing with his concerns about the possible fatal effect on the Guinness trials of the judgment of Lord Grantchester QC on the Licensed Dealers' Tribunal in the matter of TWH Management Ltd, to Mrs. Olsen of the Serious Fraud Office, together with the reply of Mrs. Olsen of 13 January 1989, in the Library of the House. [HL573]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

No. It is not the Government's practice to publish inter-departmental official correspondence which discusses particular cases or any other confidential matter.

Lord Spens

asked Her Majesty's Government:

In the light of the facts disclosed in the letter of 4 January 1989 (reported in the Mail on Sunday, 22 November 1998) from Mr. W. B. Willott of the Department of Trade and Industry to Mrs. Olsen of the Serious Fraud Office and the Government's acknowledgement that the judgment of Lord Grantchester QC in the Licensed Dealers' Tribunal of December 1988 in the matter of TWH Management Ltd, was concealed from the defendants in the first Guinness trial and the regulatory bodies, whether during the years 1988 to 1992 certain officials with the Department of Trade and Industry (and elsewhere) were engaged in the common law offence of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice during the Guinness trials; and, if so, whether they will request the police to investigate the facts. [HL626]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

I do not believe that any such offence was committed.

Lord Spens

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether Ministers were consulted and, if so, which Minister in 1989 was involved in the decision not to disclose the 1988 judgment of Lord Grantchester QC in the Licensed Dealers' Tribunal in the matter of TWH Management Ltd. [HL574]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

Neither the Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958, nor the rules of the Licensed Dealers' Tribunal, contained provision for publication of reports or other information put before the tribunal. The question of ministerial decisions about publication did not arise. Questions of disclosure in the Guinness trials were the responsibility of the Serious Fraud Office as the prosecuting authority.