Mandelson says he can’t remember any Epstein payments
Lord Peter Mandelson has said he does not remember receiving payments from pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while he was a Labor MP.
The upper house member, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last year over his links to Epstein, appears in multiple bank statements – totaling US$75,000 ($107,800) – released by the US government on Friday in a large tranche of files on the financier.
A bank statement shows a payment of US$25,000 made to the account of Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now Lord Mandelson’s husband, on 14 May 2003.
The statement indicates that “Peter Mandelson” is the beneficiary of the payment, as the designation “ME” appears next to his name.
Two later statements, from May and June 2004, also include payments of $25,000 to Lord Mandelson; One of these is made to an account that appears in his name, and the other is made to an account in which he is listed as a beneficiary.
At the time he was serving as a Labor MP for Hartlepool.
Lord Mandelson told the BBC he did not remember receiving the payments and did not know whether the documents were genuine.
Other revelations in the latest Epstein files show a series of undated photographs showing a man who appears to be Lord Mandelson standing next to a woman in her underwear and T-shirt, her face obscured.
Peer told the BBC he “couldn’t identify the location or the woman and couldn’t think of what the circumstances were”.
Elsewhere, the files showed da Silva was transferred thousands of pounds by Epstein for a fee so he could attend the British School of Osteopathy.
Lord Mandelson has previously issued a firm apology to Epstein’s victims.
He also insisted he had “nothing more to add” to his connections with Epstein.
The presence or mention of the picture in the Epstein files is not an indication of any wrongdoing.
That precedent follows the financier’s dismissal as ambassador to Washington DC last year after it was revealed he had continued contact with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to promoting prostitution and soliciting a minor.
Sky News asked UK Communities Secretary Steve Reed on Sunday whether Lord Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage because of his relationship with Epstein.
He replied: “I think we need to understand exactly what happened before we take such a step. You’re asking me here about something that happened nearly 20 years ago. I don’t know all the details of this, I wasn’t in government 20 years ago.”
“I don’t know whether he declared that, and he should have – the declaration rules had been introduced by then – so it will be for Peter Mandelson to explain whether the money was declared properly, and if it wasn’t then he will have to account for that.”
