Annex 4A
Transcript of conversation between The
Sunday Telegraph and Mr Sarosh Zaiwalla, December 1999
Lunch with ZaiwallaDecember 1999 at offices
of Zaiwalla and Co.
RS: I saw Keith two weeks ago.
SW: What did he want.
RS: Well he called me. Out of the blue.
SW: He is a nice guy.
RS: Yes. I went to see him. And you know the
one thing that he did touch on was that he's got his ministerial
post and that he went on to say that he wanted to distance himself
from some Asian businessmen. And then he referred to the story
that I had done.
SW: Which story?
RS: The one about you and Tony.
SW: Why did he call you?
RS: I don't know. We had a very odd lunch
meeting. We went to the Dorchester the Chinese.
SW: Who invited who.
RS: He invited me. I paid. But he invited
me. He called me up invited me and said can you take me out on
expenses. Ha ha. I went to see him at the Foreign Office.
SW: Yes.
RS: But he is a very funny character.
SW: He is a nice guy.
RS: Yes. We popped over to . . . (interrupts).
SW: I would . . . unclear . . . since
he became a minister.
RS: Does he not call you.
SW: No. He will speak to you at the Asian
function
(Conversation unclear)
RS: Part of his problem is that it took
him so long to become a minister because he was not trusted. We
all know why, but its whether or not . . . (interrupts).
SW: Have . . . (unclear).
RS: Is he still very close to other people.
Mr Noon . . .
SW: He is close to everybody. Have you approached
the Hindujas properly.
RS: Yes.
SW: He brought the Lord Chancellor to the
Hindujas.
RS: Pardon.
SW: The lord chancellors came to the Hindujas
diwali party (pause) Not diwali party. The Hindujas had
a party. It was the first party with the Labour ministers. The
Lord Chancellor was a guest speaker. Keith was there.
RS: He was working in the Lord Chancellor's
department wasn't he?
SW: (Something)
RS: He did talk to me then. But it was stuff
that I am never going to refer to again. But he did talk to me
when I went to meet him for lunch. He was talking to me about
Zaiwalla, about the firm.
SW: What?
RS: Well he said that.
SW: Tell me in confidence.
RS: In confidence, he said one thing which
I am not going to touch on, but he said that you asked him to
get an honour.
SW: (Cannot hear).
RS: Yes, well I said to him that we had
already been down that road and to be honest that we had checked
all that out. And we saw no . . .
SW: You know Keith used to keep telling
me as he used to tell everybody else Mr Zaiwalla, Lord Zaiwalla.
RS: Right.
SW: I'm going to recommend you to the honours.
But I know that Keith said that to practically everybody I know
(tails off).
RS: He's a bit of a charmer.
SW: Of course he is. For example whenever
I met him he would say Lord Zaiwalla or Lord Loomba, Lord Noon.
(Tails off).
RS: Yes, but I am telling you about that
as a
SW: The other problem that we have had involves
this Indian trainee girl. Nothing to do with me she has complained
. . . I have had no contact with her whatsoever.
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