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Blair may be quizzed in row

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: British Prime Minister Tony Blair is likely to be questioned by police over allegations that he was the "key'' figure behind Labour Party's controversial decision to raise funds by promising peerages to potential donors. In what has come to be branded as the cash-for-peerages scandal, Labour Party raised £14 million from leading businessmen, some of whom were later nominated for seats in the House of Lords. Their nominations were blocked by the committee, which oversees appointments to the Lords, amid allegations that the party was "selling'' honours to its benefactors.

A number of Mr. Blair's aides in Downing Street have already been "interviewed'' by police and Scotland Yard sources are reported as saying the Prime Minister might be next, though no final decision has been taken.

Reports that police were "closing in'' on Mr. Blair gained currency after The Sunday Times, in a front-page story, said his chief fund-raiser Lord Levy had told police that he had acted on the "direct orders'' of the Prime Minister when he sought loans from businessmen though he denied that he promised them any favours in return. A prosecution source was quoted as saying Lord Levy, a personal friend of Mr. Blair, told Scotland Yard that "everything he did was for the top man''.

"It wasn't for anybody else, just for Blair. That's why the Prime Minister has to be interviewed,'' the source told the newspaper. There is no suggestion that Mr. Blair or anybody else in his Government or party benefited personally from the loans.

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