Appeal to all MI5 staff for information in BBC spy case
An appeal for information has been issued to all MI5 staff over false evidence MI5 presented to three courts in a neo-Nazi espionage case.
MI5’s regulator is investigating how false claims about interviews with the BBC came to be.
Investigative Powers Commissioner Sir Brian Leveson, who oversaw the investigation, said it was “surprising” that new material had emerged years after the case began.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer He ordered an investigation in September After the BBC revealed MI5 had lied to three courts.
The Prime Minister’s request followed requests from the High Court and the Investigative Powers Tribunal, both of which rejected MI5’s explanations for what happened.
MI5 also gave false statements to its regulator, Sir Brian Leveson, whose office is handling this new investigation.
The case follows the neo-Nazi government informant known as Agent X, who used his MI5 role to attack his girlfriend with a machete.
Sir Brian just sent a letter To inform the prime minister, the attorney general and the minister of interior about the investigation into false evidence.
In the letter, he explained that the investigation team “wants a message to be passed on to all MI5 staff present” and invites anyone who believes they have information that could help to get in touch.
He adds: “I am grateful for MI5’s prompt and constructive efforts to achieve this.”
But he also said “relevant material” continued to be identified, adding that it was “surprising” four years after the case began and “three years after my investigators first considered the Agent X case.”
MI5 earlier this month Police investigation into state agent Stakeknife heavily criticized simply because he disclosed important documents years after the investigation began.
The investigation into the false evidence in the Agent X case is being led by Deputy Commissioner for Investigatory Powers, Sir John Goldring.
The update letter revealed Sir John and his investigators had interviewed 36 people in the past five weeks, including “current and former staff of the intelligence services” as well as BBC staff, government lawyers and lawyers representing MI5.
The new investigation is said to have identified “additional lines of inquiry” after obtaining material beyond what was disclosed in the three cases. The investigation report is not expected to be completed before March.
In February this year, BBC reveals MI5 lied to three courts While defending his handling of the misogynistic MI5 agent the BBC is seeking to expose in a 2022 investigation.
The Security Service, which defends secrecy, told the judges it adhered to its policy of not confirming or denying the identities of informants.
In fact, MI5 had explained Agent X’s situation to me in phone calls and was trying to persuade me not to investigate him. He aggressively maintained his position until the service produced evidence proving this was untrue, including a recording of one of the calls.
Following the BBC’s statements, MI5 Director General Sir Ken McCallum issued an “unreserved apology” for the false evidence.
Two official inquiries were subsequently held, which cleared MI5 and its officers of deliberate wrongdoing, claiming that the false evidence was based on errors and bad memories.
But in July, a panel of senior high court judges ruled that “the investigations carried out by MI5 to date contain serious procedural deficiencies” and that “we cannot rely on their conclusions”.
They said it would be “premature” to decide whether contempt of court proceedings would be brought against any MI5 officers before a new investigation begins.
Sir Ken has previously said the service would fully co-operate with the new investigation.
