Mandelson’s lawyers say police arrest was over ‘baseless’ claim he planned to leave UK
Peter Mandelson’s lawyers have claimed the former cabinet minister was arrested following a “false allegation that he was planning to leave the country”.
The former Labor Party grand aide was released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning after being arrested on suspicion of abuse of public office; This followed allegations that he leaked sensitive government information to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Law firm Mishcon de Reya said it had asked the Metropolitan Police for “the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest”.
It was also stated that an agreement had been made with the police to voluntarily interview the former British ambassador to Washington next month, but this agreement was hastily broken down following allegations that he was planning to move abroad permanently.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, the firm said: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with police that he would voluntarily attend an interview next month.
“The arrest was made due to a false allegation that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.
“There is absolutely no truth to such a suggestion. We have asked MPs for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest. Peter Mandelson’s top priority is to co-operate with the police investigation and clear his name, as he has done throughout this process.”
Former BBC correspondent Emily Maitlis previously said about him: News Agents He said he had seen a message he said was sent by Lord Mandelson to a journalist colleague at 4am on Tuesday, hours after he was released from police custody.
Ms Maitlis said the message mentioned a previous agreement between the police and his legal team for a voluntary meeting in early March, adding that police arrested him because of information that he was about to leave for the British Virgin Islands and obtain permanent residence abroad.
Ms Maitlis said the message ended: “It’s needless to say it’s pure fiction. The police were told just today that they had to make an impromptu arrest. The question is, who or what is behind this?”
Lord Mandelson is accused of passing information to Epstein while he was business secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
As part of the Epstein files, emails from 2009 showed Lord Mandelson passing on an assessment by one of Mr Brown’s advisers of potential policy measures, including an “asset sales plan”.
Emails released by the US also appear to have been sent after Epstein became a sex offender.
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment.
