- guardian.co.uk, Thursday July 3 2008 00.01 BST
- The Guardian, Thursday July 3 2008
The Metropolitan police yesterday sent files to the Crown Prosecution Service over claims that the former cabinet minister Peter Hain broke electoral law by not reporting donations for his Labour deputy leadership election campaign to the Electoral Commission on time.
Hain has been interviewed by the police and it is thought that the police are only focusing on why the donations were not reported on time. There is no suggestion that any donations were illegal, by coming from non-permissible or foreign sources, for instance.
Hain said yesterday: "As I have said all along, this was a mistake by my campaign, but an innocent mistake. When I discovered the problem I immediately notified the authorities. I have consistently provided them with all the information they might need and I hope to see my name cleared as quickly as possible."
He has been frustrated that the inquiry has taken six months. He is only gradually re-emerging into Westminster politics through his interest in Zimbabwe, and at a Demos event on tax evasion by the rich last night.
The CPS will have to look at the law in a fresh way, since there has been no previous example of a late donation being submitted to the police for investigation.
Hain quit his cabinet post after the Electoral Commission referred his non-disclosure to the police. The commission probably felt pressured to report the case, given the total size of the donations, just over £103,000. Almost half of the money was channelled through a thinktank that appeared to have no staff or website.
