Appendix 2:
Letter to Mr Clive Betts from the Commissioner
Further to my letter of 11 March[3]
and our subsequent telephone conversation, I am writing to seek
your account of the
circumstances relating to your dealings with Mr Jose
Gasparo, with particular reference to their possible implications
for the Code of Conduct applying to Members of the House.
As you know, the Code does not apply to Members in
their private life, and I emphasise again that I am not concerned
with issues concerning your sexuality. I am concerned to understand
your relationship with Mr Gasparo only in so far as it may be
relevant to assessing actions taken by you in your public capacity.
You already have a copy of notes of guidance sent
to Members who are the subject of a complaint, which set out the
procedure I follow when conducting an inquiry. I should reiterate
that any information you give me may have to feature in any report
I may make to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. However,
both the Committee and I are sympathetic to omitting confidential
or private information from our published reports where this is
not germane to an understanding of our conclusions.
My inquiries will focus particularly on two aspects
of your conduct which appear at first sight to be relevant to
the Code of Conduct for Members of the House:
1. Whether, in employing Mr Jose Gasparo temporarily
in your office, you observed properly the rules of the House relating
to the employment of staff, in particular those relating to the
staffing allowance made available to Members for this purpose;
and
2. Whether your actions in connection with your return
with Mr Gasparo to this country from a holiday in Venice—and
in particular the alleged 'doctoring' of a letter from the City
of London College relating to Mr Gasparo—were appropriate
bearing in mind the provisions of the Code.
In examining these matters, the following provisions
of the Code may particularly be relevant:
- the duty on Members to uphold the law and to
act on all occasions in accordance with the public trust placed
on them;
- the obligation to observe the general principles
of conduct applying to holders of public office, including selflessness,
objectivity, honesty and leadership;
- the duty to follow the public interest and to
resolve any conflict between public and private interest, at once,
in favour of the former;
- the responsibility not to bring the House into
disrepute;
- the obligation to use parliamentary payments
and allowances properly and strictly to observe the rules applying
to them.
In order for me to assess the two aspects of your
conduct I have mentioned above, I should be grateful if you will
give me an account in your own words of the circumstances surrounding
them. It would be helpful if this account could, without preventing
you from covering any other matters which you consider at all
relevant, address the following points:
A. Mr Gasparo's Employment
1. When and where did you first meet Mr Gasparo?
2. What was the nature of your relationship with
him?
3. When and why did you employ Mr Gasparo? For how
long did you employ him? On what terms and who paid? Did he have
a contract or letter of appointment? If so, may I see it? If he
did not, why not?
4. What was the nature of his duties?
5. What steps did you take to ensure that he was
competent to undertake those duties?
6. Were you satisfied that he undertook all those
duties satisfactorily, including working the hours he was expected
to work?
7. Were you satisfied that his employment by you
was consistent with the terms on which Mr Gasparo had been given
leave to enter the UK? What action did you take to ensure this?
8. When and why did Mr Gasparo cease to work for
you?
9. During the period of his employment by you, did
Mr Gasparo have free access to the Palace of Westminster? If not,
what arrangements were made for him to have access to your office
or to you?
10. Whilst employed by you, did Mr Gasparo have any
access to material of a national security nature, or to any other
material of a confidential character? If so, please describe (without
breaching confidentiality) the nature of the material.
11. Did you apply for a House of Commons pass for
Mr Gasparo? Why? Did you have any reservations about doing so?
If so, why?
12. On what date did you apply? Was the pass issued?
If not, why not?
B. Mr Gasparo's Immigration Status
13. Am I correct in understanding that Mr Gasparo
is a Brazilian national? If so, what was Mr Gasparo's immigration
status in the UK when you employed him?
14. What sort of visa did he have? When did it run
out? When did you become aware that it would expire?
15. I understand that you went on holiday with Mr
Gasparo to Venice during the 'half term' parliamentary recess
in February and that a document relevant to Mr Gasparo's immigration
status was faxed out to your hotel while you were in Venice. What
was the nature of this document? Why was it necessary for it to
be faxed to you?
16. On receiving the document, did you alter it in
any way? If so, in what respect(s) did you alter it and how? What
was your intention in making any alteration?
17. What happened when you and Mr Gasparo arrived
in the UK on your return from Venice? Was the faxed document presented
to the immigration authorities? By whom? Did you or Mr Gasparo
draw attention to any features of the document? Did you represent
yourself as acting in any official capacity for Mr Gasparo?
18. What was the response of the immigration authorities
to Mr Gasparo's request to re-enter the UK?
19. Did you subsequently have any dealings with the
authorities on behalf of Mr Gasparo about his immigration status?
20. When did you cease to have contact with Mr Gasparo
and why?
If you would find it helpful to discuss any of these
matters with me before letting me have your written response,
please do not hesitate to contact my office.
I am copying this letter to Mr Napier, as you have
requested.
19 March 2003
3 Not appended to the Commissioner's memorandum. Back
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