guardian.co.uk,
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis, Tuesday 22 May 2012
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| Invoices seen by the Guardian purport to show how a private investigation firm made payments in return for confidential information. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA |
Scotland
Yard is investigating allegations that detectives working for its
anti-corruption unit have been paid thousands of pounds by a firm of private
investigators.
A
parliamentary inquiry was told today that invoices, also seen by the Guardian,
purport to show how a firm of private investigators made payments in return for
information about the Metropolitan police investigation into James Ibori, a
notorious Nigerian fraudster.
On Tuesday,
the Commons home affairs select committee was told by a lawyer involved in the
case that invoices showed about £20,000 of potential payments to police
officers in what amounted to an undetected case of "apparent corruption
right at the heart of Scotland Yard".
In recent
weeks, as the Guardian investigated the allegations, the Met has sought to
discourage the paper from publishing details about the case. But , after MPs
heard the evidence, the Met dropped its previous insistence that there was
"evidence that casts doubt on the credibility" of the allegations.
A police source
with knowledge of the investigation, which has been ongoing since October, said
developments over the last 24 hours had now led police to take the allegations
more seriously.
The case
revolves around a private investigation firm called RISC Management. Five years
ago the firm was hired to work for Ibori, a former Nigerian state governor,
after he discovered he was being investigated by the Met for serious fraud.
Ibori recently pleaded guilty to money laundering and was jailed in the UK,
after the conclusion of a major investigation into his financial affairs.
The
allegation now being investigated by police is that some detectives on the
Met's Proceeds of Corruption Unit, which investigated Ibori, were receiving
payments in exchange for information about the ongoing investigation.
Invoices
and other documents appearing to support the allegations have been anonymously
posted to the Met and Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
The
documents have also been seen by the Guardian and separately sent to the home
affairs committee, which is conducting an inquiry in whether private
investigators should be subject to statutory regulation.
Keith Vaz,
the chair of the committee, has said there is growing concern in the wake of
the phone-hacking scandal that some private investigators are operating in
"the shadows" of the law. The Commons inquiry has been scrutinising
the nexus between private investigators - many of whom are retired police
officers - and their former colleagues who are still serving.
On Tuesday
morning, Mike Schwarz, a lawyer who represents one of Ibori's co-accused, told
the inquiry about what he understood to be the significance of the material.
He said it
indicated possible corruption at the heart of the police investigation into the
Nigerian politician's money laundering activities. The invoices are alleged to
be from RISC Management to Speechly Bircham, a top firm of lawyers hired by
Ibori to prepare his defence.
Schwarz
told MPs the invoices "perhaps" documented "payments made by
RISC Management to sources, presumably police officers or those close to the
investigation". He added: "The records, which I think the committee
have, show about half-a-dozen payments totalling about £20,000 over a period of
eight or nine months [...] it appears to be inappropriate if not corrupt."
Schwarz
told the committee that he believed RISC Management had been hired to
"extract" information from the police investigation into Ibori. He
said he had also seen emails - which he believed had also been forwarded to the
committee - which confirmed "contact" between detectives
investigating Ibori and the private investigators.
Schwarz,
from Bindmans solicitors, represents Bhadresh Gohil, a London-based solicitor
jailed along with Ibori for orchestrating his money laundering scam. Gohil is
now considering an appeal. Gohil is understood to have been sent the invoices,
anonymously, while in Wandsworth Prison last summer.
In a
statement, the Met said: "The [force] is investigating an allegation that
illegal payments were made to police officers for information by a private
investigation agency. The Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) referred
the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in October 2011
which agreed to supervise a DPS investigation into the allegations."
Following
Schwarz's evidence to parliament, the Met said it had dropped its previous
claim to have recently "uncovered evidence" casting doubt on the
allegations. Previously, the force had suggested an active line of inquiry was
the theory that Gohil or his associates had fabricated the allegations to
undermine the prosecution. In a previous statement, provided on Friday, the
force said: "As a result of inquiries police have uncovered evidence that
casts doubt on the credibility of these allegations. Warrants have been
executed at two addresses in London and a quantity of paperwork and computer
equipment recovered."
Two weeks
ago, following raids on properties, one of which was the Gohil's family home in
Kent, the force said: "Officers believe that they have identified the
originator of the information and a line of enquiry suggests that there may
have been an attempt to pervert the course of justice."
However,
sources at the Yard said previous statements no longer fully represented their
position. A source with knowledge of the Met inquiry said the change of stance
was unrelated to Schwarz's parliamentary evidence. The source said that, instead,
there had been developments in the investigation over the last 24 hours.
Schwarz
named three serving Met police officers in his testimony to parliament as being
potential "culprits": detective inspector Gary Walters, detective
constables named as John MacDonald and "Clark". All three officers
declined an opportunity to respond to the allegations when contacted by the
Guardian last week. However, RISC Management indicated Walters would deny
"any and all allegations".
RISC
Management denied all the allegations about the company, saying it was not
aware of the Scotland Yard investigation and had no knowledge of the alleged
financial records. The firm confirmed it had been hired by Ibori's lawyers but
denied making corrupt payments, saying it "has never paid a serving police
officer for information and would never approve such payments".
Keith
Hunter, chief executive of the company, said: "RISC management does not
need to pay serving police officers for confidential information as we pride
ourselves on our ability to provide positive solutions and accurate information
legitimately. RISC Management has a highly respected reputation for conducting
professional investigations".
He added
that his company was "proud to have a network of highly professional
consultants, contacts and resources. These individuals are hired precisely
because of their unique skill set and expertise".
He accused
Schwarz of "grandstanding" in front of the Commons committee, instead
of taking the "correct course of reporting the matter to the police".
He said Schwarz had not produced any evidence to support his claims and acted
for a convicted solicitor, Gohil, who was jailed for seven years for money
laundering.
Speechly
Bircham denied any knowledge of wrongdoing and said it would be willing to
assist with any police inquiries. The law firm stressed Schwarz did not suggest
in his evidence to parliament that Speechly Bircham was "party to illegal
or corrupt payments" and said any such allegation would be false and defamatory.
Ian Timlin,
the former Speechly Bircham lawyer who was at the time representing Ibori, said
neither he nor the firm had "any knowledge of any payments to police
officers for information." He added: "At no time, did RISC ever
inform me who or what was the source/s they were paying."
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