Lord Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, was arrested at his London home on Monday afternoon. His lawyers have stated that the arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country.
A spokesperson for Mishcon De Reya, Lord Mandelson's lawyers, said: "Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis."
The Metropolitan Police has launched an investigation into allegations that Lord Mandelson 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.
Lord Mandelson was taken to Wandsworth police station in London for interview and was released on bail in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The force has said that Lord Mandelson has been bailed to the end of May.
Police Response
Consultations between the police and the Crown Prosecution Service are ongoing. The BBC understands that Lord Mandelson's position is he has not acted in any way criminally and that he was not motivated by financial gain.
Lord Mandelson's lawyers have asked the Metropolitan Police Service for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest. Lord Mandelson's overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.
