Tory donor accused of perjury, harassment and bribery by Conservative MP
A serious Conservative donor has been accused of perjury, legal harassment and bribery in a unprecedented intervention by a senior Tory MP.
Former Cabinet Minister David Davis used the protections of Parliamentary privilege, which protects MPs from being sued for defamation usually, to make the allegations towards the multi-millionaire Mohamed Amersi within the Commons. He accused the telecoms tycoon, who has donated £750,000 to the Tories, of waging an “obsessive, misogynistic and ultimately defamatory hate campaign” towards former Tory MP Charlotte Leslie.
It got here, Mr Davis stated, after Mr Amersi tried a takeover of the Conservative Middle East Council, which Ms Leslie runs. Mr Amersi later arrange his personal rival organisation and accused Ms Leslie of libel, taking her by a “long, drawn out an expansive claim of breach of data protection rules.”
Mr Davis added: “He set out to destroy her reputation. There were lies that she sexually blackmailed men, a collection of intimate details about her family and threatening letters were set by the notorious legal firm Carter Ruck to journalists and MPs including myself.”
Mr Amersi misplaced a defamation case towards Ms Leslie final June. He was criticised by the decide and agreed to pay all prices. Mr Davis accused Mr Amersi of perjury for “lying” throughout the trial about an interview through which he informed a journalist what his authorized prices had been.
Mr Amersi denied making the feedback in court docket and accused the reporter, Tom Burgis of “misrepresenting the truth”. But transcripts of the interview reveal he did make the feedback.
“I’m not a lawyer,” Mr Davis stated. “But that would appear to me to be perjury. A picture emerges here of an attempt to avoid justice by obscuring the truth.” Mr Davis alleged Mr Amersi had constructed his fortune by “corrupt deals” and “bribery”, in post-Soviet Russia, Uzbekistan and Nepal, and of build up a picture for himself as an “upright citizen and philanthropist.”
“The Bribery Act is clear,” he informed MPs within the Commons. “It’s an offence for a British citizen to bribe a foreign public official no matter where in the world that action takes place. Mr Amersi is a British citizen. He must obey British law. His dealings in the former Soviet Union and Nepal are surely therefore a matter for the National Crime Agency to consider.
“Furthermore, the Metropolitan Police must now consider whether the actions against Charles Leslie constitute criminal harassment, and the judiciary should consider the question of perjury.”
Mohamed Amersi informed the Mirror: “I have nothing more to add save that it is what he has already said: my response is that Davis is biased, a bully, a coward and a liar! If he believes what he says under the cloak of parliamentary privilege then he should say them to me outside parliament.
“And then I’ll get him to see if he can show his level. Interesting to see how Leslie and Burgis have captured the minds of senior politicians in parliament to do their unsubstantiated allegations which for the document I deny of their entirety.
“And for the record every deal I did had the best lawyers and accountants. A crucial fact that is omitted in this debate.”
