Examination of Witness (Questions 520
- 533)
TUESDAY 6 FEBRUARY 2001
MR BRIAN
BROWN
520. Where Mr Zaiwalla and Mr Vaz were.
(Mr Brown) They were still there, yes.
521. I think you said this earlier. If this
goes beyond what you meant to say, do say. You either gave the
envelope with the money to Mr Zaiwalla, who gave it to Mr Vaz,
or you gave it directly to Mr Vaz.
(Mr Brown) I honestly cannot remember.
Chairman
522. I take it there was no receipt given.
(Mr Brown) No.
Shona McIsaac
523. Can I just check whether Mr Zaiwalla introduced
Mr Vaz as a Member of Parliament to you?
(Mr Brown) I cannot recall. He may well have done,
but not necessarily.
524. So nothing rang any alarm bells in your
mind that this may be highly irregular?
(Mr Brown) It was none of my business. Alarm bells
did not ring in my mind at any time Mr Zaiwalla asked me to withdraw
money from the bank. Most times I knew about it because he was
going away the following day, or whatever. But if he had somebody
in his room with him and he wanted to give them money or whatever,
he would just ask me to write a cheque out and get the cash.
525. You said it was on rare occasions that
you were asked to draw money out for someone rather than for Mr
Zaiwalla personally.
(Mr Brown) Yes. Nine times out of ten I would know
from events that were taking place what it was for. It was always
going to be charged down to him, but there were occasions when
he wanted money for other purposes that I had no knowledge of,
but I was going to charge it down to him.
Mr Foster
526. Was it on this occasion that you marked
in the counterfoil who the money had gone to?
(Mr Brown) I do not recall. The counterfoil would
normally just have "drawings" written on it.
527. You mentioned earlier or it was put to
you that it was to do with setting up an office.
(Mr Brown) Yes.
528. Do you know where that office was to be?
(Mr Brown) No.
529. You do not know anything about that at
all?
(Mr Brown) No. The conversation was solely that it
was for the purposes of setting up Mr Vaz's parliamentary office.
Whether that was here or in his constituency, I have no idea.
Mr Campbell-Savours
530. Can I just get it clearly on the record:
you do not recall handing the money personally to Mr Vaz?
(Mr Brown) No, I do not.
Mr Foster
531. I think you said you may or may not have
done. Is that the position?
(Mr Brown) I do not recall giving it to him specifically,
to one or the other.
532. The final question I wanted to ask was
this. The Sunday Telegraph, you say, promised you anonymity
if you made comments to them. Has any member of the media, and
if so, who, made any promise of incentive or benefit should you
make a statement to them?
(Mr Brown) No. The only newspaper I have come into
contact with is the Sunday Telegraph.
533. They have never offered you any benefit
beyond that?
(Mr Brown) Other than anonymity, no.
Chairman: Thank you very much for coming
along and answering our questions today.
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