In January 2022, Labour MP Liam Byrne referenced me in two parliamentary debates on the Elections Bill and on the impact of lawfare on the UK courts system, making false and defamatory statements about my business activities.
These allegations were strikingly similar to those circulated by Charlotte Leslie in the dossier sent to parliamentarians, diplomats and security officials; however, Byrne claimed to be drawing on “well-placed sources inside the Kremlin” for his claims.
Why does Mr Byrne have “well-placed sources inside the Kremlin” – is he a Russian mole? If so, I think his constituents and Parliamentary colleagues should be told.
Or is the truth rather different? Did someone pay for a dodgy dossier to be compiled on me and was it then fed to Mr Byrne, a “useful idiot” who could be relied on to abuse parliamentary privilege by repeating its fabricated contents in the House of Commons without fact checking.
Mr Byrne has form for this. In 2023 he claimed in the House of Commons that Fraser Perring, boss of investment firm, Viceroy Research, had Russian links and was “not an infrequent visitor to Moscow”. Mr Perring pointed out he had never been to Moscow and demanded a retraction, questioning whether Mr Byrne had been paid to make the remarks.
Amongst the allegations made against me was the false claim that I was a business partner of Leonard Bogdan, who allegedly had links to the Russian security services. In fact, I had never heard of, let alone engaged in business with two firms, Tempbank or Hudsotrade in which Mr Byrne claimed I was a partner of Mr Bodgan. Various other falsehoods were uttered such as my alleged dealings with the former Assad regime, and my proximity to various Russians that I had never met.
I am currently trying to ascertain who commissioned the dossier, who compiled it, who paid for it and the roles of Tom Burgis and Charlotte Leslie in it.
My lawyers, Carter-Ruck, wrote to Mr Byrne to assure him that all my business dealings in Russia and the former Soviet Union states were legitimate and transparent and related exclusively to legitimate commercial deal-making activities.
Mr Byrne was invited to retract the statements made about me in the House of Commons and I offered to meet him to discuss any concerns he had. He neither retraced the false allegations, made under the cover of Parliamentary privilege, or took up the offer to meet.
Sadly, this is the quality of the people we have running our country; no wonder we are on a downward spiral. In most civilised societies such conduct would bar one from holding public office.
I have reproduced Carter-Ruck’s letter here in full.
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