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Ok. From the BBC:

Former Europe minister Keith Vaz has apologised to MPs and been banned from the House of Commons for a one-month period.

The Commons standards and privileges committee recommended the ban last week in a damning report accusing Mr Vaz of showing contempt for Parliament.

Mr Vaz was given the opportunity to address colleagues ahead of a debate on the report and he apologised to the House of Commons adding that he accepted "completely" the committee's findings.

"I apologise to the committee and the House and in doing so I underline my unreserved support for the integrity of the House and its procedures," said.

It would have been almost unheard of for the Commons not to approve the recommendations of the committee, which also criticised Mr Vaz for breaking the MPs' code of conduct.

MPs' findings
Vaz should be suspended for a month
Three out of 11 complaints upheld
Vaz committed "serious breaches of the MPs code of conduct"
He was guilty of "a contempt" of the Commons
In the event they agreed the suspension without a division.

Before withdrawing from the Commons' chamber to allow MPs to debate the report, Mr Vaz argued that he had "co-operated in every possible way" with the inquiry.

That point was disputed by Sir George Young, the chairman of the Standards and Privileges committee.

The standards committee had criticised the Leicester East MP for refusing to co-operate with an inquiry into his conduct and failing to declare cash donations.

Sir George went on to question Mr Vaz's wisdom in holding an impromptu press conference on the report last week.

Mr Vaz said at the time that the punishment, one of the toughest ever handed down to an MP, was "disproportionate" to his alleged misdemeanours and against natural justice.

Response to Filkin

Mr Vaz was found to have given "misleading information" about his financial links to the Hinduja brothers, whose passport applications caused the storm that saw Peter Mandelson resign from government.

The standards committee upheld three of the 11 complaints against Mr Vaz.

Elizabeth Filkin

It said it might have been satisfied with an apology had it not been for the way the MP responded to Ms Filkin's inquiry.

The committee concluded: "We have found that Mr Vaz committed serious breaches of the code of conduct and a contempt of the House."

Attack on process

Conservative MP Peter Bottomley says he is standing down from the Commons standards committee in protest at the way Ms Filkin has been treated.

The watchdog has complained of a whispering campaign against her and says her job has been downgraded.

She will be replaced by newly appointed standards commissioner Philip Mawer.

Mr Vaz argues the report was rushed out and published before the full facts were known and says he did cooperate with the investigation.

But his claim that Leicestershire Police are still investigating one of the claims has been denied by the force.

Resignation

Mr Vaz clearly wants to continue in the Commons and has the full support of his constituency party.

An investigation last year upheld only one minor charge against Mr Vaz, out of a total of 18, and the standards committee took no disciplinary action.

But Ms Filkin said she could not complete her inquiries on another eight complaints because she said Mr Vaz failed to give her prompt and clear answers.

Mr Vaz, who was last year cleared of wrongdoing over the Hinduja passports affair, resigned from the government after the general election, citing ill health.





From Wiki:


Filkin inquiry

In February 2000 the Parliamentary standards watchdog Elizabeth Filkin was requested to investigate allegations of undisclosed payments to Vaz from businessmen in his constituency.[1] The following year, 2001, members of the opposition began to question what role Vaz may have played in helping the billionaire Indian Hinduja brothers - linked with a corruption probe in India - to secure UK passports.

In March 2001, the Filkin report cleared Vaz of nine of the 18 allegations of various financial wrongdoings, but Elizabeth Filkin accused Mr Vaz of blocking her investigation into eight of the allegations. He was also censured for one allegation - that he failed to register two payments worth £450 in total from Sarosh Zaiwalla, a solicitor whom he recommended for an honour several years later.

Mrs Filkin announced in the same month a new inquiry which would focus on whether or not a company connected to Vaz received a donation from a charitable foundation run by the Hinduja brothers. The results of the inquiry were published in 2002 and it was concluded that Vaz had "committed serious breaches of the Code of Conduct and a contempt of the House" and it was recommended that he be suspended from the House of Commons for one month[2].

Keith Vaz was also a director of the company General Mediterranean Holdings' owned by the Anglo-Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi, who had in the past hired British politicians Lord David Steel and Lord Norman Lamont as directors. Vaz resigned his post as director when he became Minister for Europe, but it was later discovered that he had remained in contact with Auchi and had made enquiries on his behalf over a French extradition warrant, Auchi even calling Vaz at home to ask the minister for advice.[3]

Since 2003 he has been a Member of the Constitutional Affairs Select Committee. Once suggested as a possible candidate for a future leader of the Labour Party, it is unclear whether he will ever return to a frontbench role.




More BBC:


Vaz inquiry widens
Keith Vaz
Keith Vaz has been ill since March
The parliamentary inquiry into Keith Vaz is to be extended, the BBC has learned.

Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Elizabeth Filkin is to examine claims the Leicester MP did not disclose all his property interests when he was investigated

The news comes as Mr Vaz was released from hospital after being treated for an infection and as he was removed from the government team by Tony Blair.

It follows a report by BBC News earlier this year suggesting that Mr Vaz had told Mrs Filkin he had three properties when in fact he had four.

Inquiry

Mr Vaz made the statement last year as part of an investigation into his links with business.

That inquiry considered 18 charges but upheld just one. However, a further eight were unable to be completed because, according to Mrs Filkin, Mr Vaz had failed to give her prompt and clear answers.

An investigation by BBC Radio 4's Today programme, earlier this year, discovered documentation showing Mr Vaz owned four properties and that he had transferred ownership of a fifth property to his mother eight days after he was asked by Mrs Filkin for details of all the properties he owned.

Elizabeth Filkin
Mrs Filkin is investigating Mr Vaz for a second time
The MPs' Code of Conduct states that MPs must declare "any land or property, other than any home used for the personal residential purposes of the Member or the Member's spouse, which has a substantial value or from which a substantial income is derived."

Mr Vaz told the Today programme he gave details of all his properties to the Commons Registrar of member's interests in January of this year. He has denied misleading parliament.

Hospitalised

Mr Vaz was discharged from Leicester Royal Infirmary on Monday where he was admitted at the weekend.

Mr Vaz, who was re-elected as MP for Leicester East last week, was taken to Leicester Royal Infirmary's accident and emergency department on Saturday afternoon and was treated for an infection.

Mr Vaz has been ill since collapsing during a television interview in March and little was seen of him on the general election campaign trail.

A hospital spokeswoman said today: "There would have been a ward round this morning and that is when he was given the all-clear to be discharged."

It is believed Mr Vaz left the hospital through a side exit, avoiding waiting reporters and photographers.






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