Annex 4
Extract from the memorandum from the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards appended to the Seventh Report from
the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Session 2000-01
15. Before reaching its conclusion, the Committee
instructed its Chairman to write to Mr Robinson putting three
specific questions to him:
"(i) Did you
receive the £200,000 referred to in my earlier letter,[13]
or any other benefit directly or indirectly in respect of your
chairmanship of Hollis Industries plc, either in the accounting
period in question or in any subsequent accounting period?
(ii) Did you expect to receive any
benefit of any kind in respect of your chairmanship of the company?
(iii) Did you read the accounts of the
company for the accounting period in question, and were you aware
that they stated that the emoluments (excluding pension contributions)
of the chairman of the company were £200,000?"[14]
16. Mr Robinson replied as follows:
"The answers to your
questions are
- No to all points;
- No;
- While I would normally read the accounts of every
company with which I am associated, it is difficult after eight
years to recall a specific set of annual accounts.
If I had seen a mention of
payments I had not received, I would, of course, have corrected
this. But since I was not to be remunerated, this was not a point
I was looking out for."[15]
13 A letter to Mr Robinson identifying the payment in
question as chairman's remuneration of £200,000 from Hollis
Industries plc. Back
14 Eighteenth
Report of Session 1997-98, Appendix 5. Back
15 Ibid,
Appendix 6 (excerpt). Back
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