Lord Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, was arrested at his London home on Monday afternoon. According to his lawyers, the arrest was due to concerns that he was a flight risk. The Metropolitan Police has declined to comment on the matter.
A spokesperson for Mishcon De Reya, Lord Mandelson's lawyers, stated that the arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he planned to leave the country. The spokesperson emphasized that there is no truth to this claim. Lord Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office and later released on bail.
The arrest followed search warrants at two addresses in Wiltshire and Camden earlier this month. The investigation was launched over allegations that Lord Mandelson had passed on market-sensitive government information to the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a minister.
Investigation Background
The allegations against Lord Mandelson surfaced after the US Department of Justice released a tranche of documents, including emails between him and Epstein. An email from 2009 appears to show that Lord Mandelson passed on an assessment by an adviser to the then prime minister Gordon Brown about policy measures.
Lord Mandelson was seen being led away from his London home by plain clothes officers on Monday. He was taken to Wandsworth police station for interview and was released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a nine-hour detention.
Police Response
The Metropolitan Police Service's central specialist crime division carried out the arrest. Consultations between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service are ongoing. Lord Mandelson's lawyers have asked for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest.
Lord Mandelson's position is that he has not acted in any way criminally and was not motivated by financial gain. His overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation and clear his name, according to his lawyers.
