Arrest in Labour loan scandal

4.39.46pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 22nd Sep 2006

In the continuing investigation in to the Labour loans scandal Sir Christopher Evans, who lent Labour £1m, has been arrested and interviewed by the police. Scotland Yard has revealed that a number of people had been interviewed under caution and another number of people had been interviewed as potential witnesses.

Sir Christopher in a statement has said "Frankly, if I thought for one moment that I would be placed in this embarrassing and mind-boggling position, I would not have made the loan. I am extremely frustrated to be placed in this situation as a result of what I believed to be a straightforward commercial loan to the Labour party to assist them with their cash flow for the last election campaign. The reason I made the loan was precisely because I was not prepared to make such a substantial donation to the Labour party. From the outset, I made it clear that the money would be a commercial, interest-bearing loan which was to be repaid in full and that remains the case."

Sir Christopher is also unhappy that he has been arrested so that police can access documents and computers in his possession. He said he would have agreed to hand them over voluntarily.

It is known that 48 people have been interviewed by detectives, 13 under caution. Three have been arrested so far in the five month long investigation. The inquiry is expected to reach a conclusion by the end of October.