Attachment
Statutory Declaration by Mr Jaffer Kapasi
OBE DL MKD
I Jaffer Kapasi of . . . . will say as follows:
1. An article appeared in The Sunday
Times on 14 May 2000 on page 10 written by David Leppard,
Gareth Walsh and Paul Nuki.
2. The article falsely claims that I have
made payments to Keith Vaz MP.
3. Mr Leppard came to my office outside
business hours, uninvited and unannounced, on Thursday 11 May
2000. I declined to be interviewed yet despite this, Mr Leppard
continued to speak to me, saying our conversation was off the
record. He put a number of allegations to me. His tone became
aggressive and hectoring. In order to get rid of him, I did respond
that I had receipts for any money given to Mr Vaz, knowing in
my own mind that I had never given him personally any money. Mr
Leppard also said that he was aware of the confidential correspondence
from Mrs Filkin to myself. Eventually he left.
4. I clarified the position when Mr Leppard
subsequently telephoned me on my mobile phone on Friday 12 May
2000 during the week of publication of the article and stated,
as is the case, that I have never made payments of any kind to
Mr Vaz MP nor has he ever asked me to do so. I have made a donation
of £52.00 to the Sahara Trust as set out in my letter to
Elizabeth Filkin of 28 March 2000 annexed hereto as "JK1"
in a bundle of correspondence passing between Ms Filkin and me.
The sum of £52 was chosen because this is for me a holy number.
I exhibit to this Statutory Declaration at "JK2", a
copy of Keith Vaz's letter to me of 29 August 1995, confirming
receipt of the donation.
5. To the best of my recollection, I have
never spoken to Gareth Walsh. I believe that Paul Nuki was on
the telephone with Mr Leppard, when he telephoned me on Friday
12 May.
6. I told Mr Leppard that in March 2000,
I wrote to Elizabeth Filkin the Parliamentary Commissioner for
Standards to confirm that no payments were ever made to Mr K Vaz
in return for any assistance in securing planning permission.
7. The article falsely states that I wanted
Mr K Vaz to influence the thinking of the Council on the proposal
to give the planning approval to build on a site at Manor Farm,
Hamilton.
8. I confirm that the contents of this statement
are true.
Declared this 25 day of May 2000 at 39 Warren
Street London W1P before a solicitor duly authorised to administer
Oaths.
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