Lord Mandelson: I have no recollection of payments from Jeffrey Epstein
Also in the Epstein files are photos of a man who appears to be the former Labour MP in his pants and a T-shirt alongside a woman.
Lord Peter Mandelson has said he does not remember receiving payments from paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein which totalled 75,000 US dollars and were made when he was a Labour MP.
The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, appears to feature in several bank statements released on Friday in the huge tranche of files related to the disgraced financier by the US government.
In one bank statement, a payment of 25,000 US dollars to the account of Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now Lord Mandelson’s husband, features on May 14, 2003.
The statement appears to describe “Peter Mandelson” as the beneficiary of the payment, as the allocation “BEN” appears next to his name.
Two later statements from May and June 2004 also feature 25,000 dollar payments to Lord Mandelson, one to an account which appears in his name, and another in which he appears to be listed as a beneficiary.
At the time, he was serving as Labour MP for Hartlepool.
Lord Mandelson told the BBC he had no recollection of receiving the payments, and did not know if the documents were genuine.
Other disclosures from the latest Epstein files show a man who appears to be Lord Mandelson in a series of undated photographs, stood in his pants and a T-shirt alongside a woman whose face has been hidden.
The peer told the BBC he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.
Elsewhere, the files appeared to show Mr da Silva was transferred thousands of pounds by Epstein to pay for a fee so he could attend the British School of Osteopathy.
Lord Mandelson has previously offered an unequivocal apology to Epstein’s victims.
He has also insisted he had “nothing more to add” on his links to Epstein.
Being pictured or mentioned in the Epstein files is not an indicator of any wrongdoing.
The peer was sacked as the ambassador to Washington DC last year after revelations of his continued contact with Epstein following the financier’s guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed was asked by Sky News on Sunday if Lord Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage because of his association with Epstein.
He replied: “I think before taking any action like that, we need to understand exactly what’s happened.
“You’re asking me here about something that happened nearly 20 years ago. I don’t know the full detail of it, I wasn’t in government 20 years ago.
“I don’t know whether he declared it or not, and he should have done – the declaration rules had been brought in by then – so I think it would be for Peter Mandelson to explain whether or not that money was properly declared, and if not, then he will need to account for that.”
