- News>
- India
Top British civil servants to give proof on Hinduja passport case
Two top British civil servants will be called before the Public Administration Committee next month to explain why their departments resisted giving official papers connected with the Hinduja passport case to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
Two top British civil servants will be called before the Public Administration Committee next month to explain why their departments resisted giving official papers connected with the Hinduja passport case to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
The two officials are John Gieve and Mavis MacDonald, Permanent Secretaries at the Home Office and Cabinet Office respectively.
The request follows publication yesterday of a report by Sir Michael Buckley, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, in which he expressed deep concern at repeated refusals to release records relating to the Hinduja passport affair.
Tony Wright, the committee's Labour chairman, said he was seeking to arrange a date to hear from the two.
Others involved in the episode, such as Peter Mandelson, who resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary amid conflicting accounts of his involvement in the passport application of S P Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group, will not be called.
The Hinduja foundation contributed one million pounds to the faith zone of the Millennium Dome.
Sir Anthony Hammond who conducted two inquiries into the passport affair has cleared Hinduja of any wrong doing while obtaining his British passport.
The Ombudsman said that he had not received a proper explanation from the two departments for their reluctance to release papers. "We just ran into a brick wall," Sir Michael told 'BBC Radio 4's' Today programme. Bureau Report
The request follows publication yesterday of a report by Sir Michael Buckley, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, in which he expressed deep concern at repeated refusals to release records relating to the Hinduja passport affair.
Tony Wright, the committee's Labour chairman, said he was seeking to arrange a date to hear from the two.
Others involved in the episode, such as Peter Mandelson, who resigned as Northern Ireland Secretary amid conflicting accounts of his involvement in the passport application of S P Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group, will not be called.
The Hinduja foundation contributed one million pounds to the faith zone of the Millennium Dome.
Sir Anthony Hammond who conducted two inquiries into the passport affair has cleared Hinduja of any wrong doing while obtaining his British passport.
The Ombudsman said that he had not received a proper explanation from the two departments for their reluctance to release papers. "We just ran into a brick wall," Sir Michael told 'BBC Radio 4's' Today programme. Bureau Report