British Dy PM linked to Sudhir Choudhrie

The revelation that India-born businessman Sudhir Choudhrie and his son Bhanu have been major political donors to British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) has shaken the corridors of power in the UK. Multi-millionaire Choudhrie and Bhanu were arrested and questioned for several hours last week as part of a probe by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) into allegations of bribery at aerospace and defence major Rolls-Royce, before being bailed without conditions.

Britain’s coalition partner LDP is now under the spotlight over its close links with Choudhrie, known to friends as Bunny. He has given the party over £500,000 since 2010 and over £1 million since 2004. 

The entrepreneur, who moved to the UK in 2002 and is now based at a 5-million pound apartment in London’s posh Chelsea neighbourhood, had been on a list of nominations from Clegg’s office to be a Lib Dem peer in the House of Lords but his name mysteriously did not go forward in 2013.

The Choudhries have regularly attended other events alongside Clegg and other senior Liberal 

Democrats, including Simon Hughes, the Lib Dem Justice Minister, who received a £60,000- donation from Choudhrie last year. A Lib Dem spokesperson said the party was aware of the allegations but could not comment as the investigation is ongoing.

The SFO is probing whether Sudhir Choudhrie was an intermediary used by Rolls-Royce, two people familiar with the situation told the Financial Times.  

The Indian authorities are reported to have recently dropped a separate probe into Choudhrie as part of a probe into deals done by Italian consortium Finmeccanica.   PTI