Sunday, December 02, 2007

Dodgy Dealings

More spin and muckraking in the Mail on Sunday's join-up-the-dots exclusive: "SECOND donor scandal...an Iranian-born car dealer who is not even entitled to vote in general elections". Mahmoud Khayami, a French citizen who is entitled to vote in both local and European elections, has given over £800,000 in just eight months, starting just "24 hours after becoming legally allowed to do so". It gets worse: "Had he made the payment 48 hours earlier both he and the Labour Party would have been committing a criminal offence."

Let me run through the evidence just one more time: there's no suggestion that Khayami has broken any rules in either his business dealings or party donations, he pays UK taxes, is a legal resident, and is listed on the Electoral Roll. The only allegation that could possibly stick is that the Labour Party gave him advice on how he could go about making donations legally. It's hardly Asil Nadir, is it?

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