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Letter from the Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards to Mr Tim Smith, MP
Following your oral evidence last week (a copy
of the transcript and a standard covering letter are enclosed),
I am writing to ask you for some further information.
At Q 1085 to Q 1096 you described the partnership
you were operating with your wife at the period during which
you received payments from Mr Al-Fayed. In relation to this point,
could you please provide answers to the following questions:
(1.) Were you registered for VAT, either
as a sole trader or as a partnership, during this period? (Please
give details).
(2.) Did you render a VAT invoice for the
cash payments from Mr Al-Fayed? If so, please provide details.
If not, please give reasons.
(3.) Did the £18,000 which you have
given as the approximate total of the cash payments - or any part
thereof - appear in your VAT returns? If not, please give reasons.
(4.) When, in 1989, you registered in the
Register of Members' Interests an interest with House of Fraser
did you correct the VAT position? If so, please provide details.
If not, please give reasons.
(5.) You stated at Q 1130 that, at the
time when you ended your financial relationship with Mr Al-Fayed
(January or February 1989), you went to see the Government Chief
Whip and the Chairman of your Association to inform them "of
what had been going on". You also indicated that there were
no contemporaneous records which pinpoint the timing of the ending
of the relationship, other than the correspondence with the Registrar.
In case I wish to pursue this aspect further, could you please
let me know the name of the Chief Whip at the time and the name
and address of the then Chairman of your Association (if still
available). Did you inform anyone else? If so, I would be grateful
for similar details.
I would appreciate an early reply.
Sir Gordon Downey
17 February 1997
Letter from Mr Tim Smith MP to the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards
Thank you for your letter of 17 February 1997.
The partnership which I was operating with my
wife at the period, Rosenau Consultants, was registered for VAT.
As you know, I no longer have any records relating
to the period. I have, therefore, written to Customs and Excise
asking whether they could supply me with the partnership VAT returns
for 1987, 1988 and 1989. I am hoping that these returns may clarify
the position.
The name of the Chief Whip at the time was Rt
Hon David Waddington MP (now Rt Hon Lord Waddington). The name
of the Chairman of the Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative
Association was Mr John Strafford. His address is: Perama, Fulmer
Road, Gerrards Cross, Bucks SL9 7EG. I also informed the agent
and secretary of the Association, Mr Philip Dumville. His address
is: Beaconsfield Constituency Conservative Association, 12 Aylesbury
End, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 1LW.
Tim Smith MP
4 March 1997
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