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Thursday, 25 January, 2001, 10:53 GMT
Hinduja 'did not seek favours'
![]() Peter Mandelson: A close ally of Prime Minister Blair
The billionaire Indian businessman at the centre of a political scandal in the UK over a passport application has denied seeking favours to gain UK citizenship.
Mr Mandelson - a close ally of Prime Minister Tony Blair - resigned from the government on Wednesday after admitting making misleading statements about Mr Hinduja's passport application. The Hindujas - estimated to be the UK's wealthiest Asian business family - made a donation of $1.5m (£1m) to the Millennium Dome project in London, which Mr Mandelson was in charge of at one point. No dome link But Srichand Hinduja denied that the passport affair had any connection with the money given to the Millennium Dome.
"I made an application [for a passport] as it is required as per the rules and regulations of the country." Mr Mandelson, who was Northern Ireland Secretary, had come under increasing pressure following press reports that he pulled strings to help Mr Hinduja secure citizenship. Kumbh visit A Indian newspaper reported on Thursday that the Hinduja brothers, who are facing questioning over a big arms scandal in the 1980s, made a secret visit to the Kumbh Mela religious festival in Allahabad.
The paper said they had planned to stay at the festival, but had to return to Delhi to face further questioning. The three brothers - Srichand, Prakash and Gopichand - have been charged by Indian investigators with criminal conspiracy and bribery in connection with the purchase of artillery guns from the Swedish Bofors company in 1986. They deny the charges. They have been barred from leaving the country while the investigation continues. The scandal has implicated a number of leading businessmen and politicians, including the former Indian prime minister Rajv Gandhi.
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