US politicians have demanded Lord Peter Mandelson testifies before Congress as part of a probe into his long-term friend, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former British ambassador to the US received a letter formally requesting he appears for an interview to help them ‘uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers’.
They pointed out that Mandelson had called Epstein his ‘best pal’ and, according to bank statements, payments of at least $75,000 (£55,000) were sent to him.
It comes as a Daily Mail investigation exclusively revealed today the ex-Labour grandee took ‘ghost flights’ on a Russian oligarch’s private jet to a summit with Vladimir Putin when he was EU trade commissioner.
He accepted luxury flights aboard a Gulfstream jet controlled by one of the Kremlin strongman’s favourite tycoons – aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska.
The EU subsequently slashed aluminium tariffs – to the delight of Mr Deripaska, who became one of the world’s ten richest men. The European Commission previously insisted there was ‘no political interference’ from Lord Mandelson in this decision.
The revelations cap a torrid fortnight for Lord Mandelson, whose links with Epstein have led to calls for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down as Prime Minister.
Critics have questioned the PM’s judgment in appointing the peer as US ambassador, which is considered the most prestigious posting in British diplomacy.
Peter Mandelson with Jeffrey Epstein in one of the recently released batch of photographs
Peter Mandelson leaves London’s Eurostar terminal at Waterloo Station to take up his position as European Commissioner for Trade in Brussels in 2004
Image shows the letter to Lord Mandelson asking him to testify in front of Congress
The letter to Lord Mandelson, signed by representatives Robert Garcia and Suhas Subramanyam, said: ‘While you no longer serve as British Ambassador to the United States and have stepped down from the House of Lords, it is clear that you possessed extensive social and business ties to Jeffrey Epstein and hold critical information pertaining to our investigation of Epstein’s operations.
‘Given the appalling allegations regarding Epstein’s conduct, we request that you make yourself available for a transcribed interview with Committee staff regarding the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators.’
It added: ‘Numerous pieces of evidence have come to light demonstrating your close ties to Jeffrey Epstein over the span of multiple years.
‘For example, in 2003, you authored a handwritten note that was included in Epstein’s 50th Birthday Book, referring to Epstein as your ‘best pal’ and praising him as ‘an intelligent, sharp-witted man.
‘In bank records obtained by the Committee, Epstein transferred sizable sums of money to you, including payments between 2003 and 2004 totaling more than $75,000.’
Last week, Scotland Yard launched a probe into allegations Mandelson passed confidential British government information to financier Epstein.
Officers raided both his £12million London house and rented farmhouse in Wiltshire and were seen fetching cardboard boxes from their cars to collect evidence.
Peter Mandelson accepted luxury flights aboard a Gulfstream jet controlled by one of the Kremlin strongman’s favourite tycoons – aluminium billionaire Oleg Deripaska
The Gulfstream IV that took Mandelson to the Netherlands in 2004
Now the Mail can reveal shocking details of the private jet flights an ‘agitated’ Mandelson took on November 25, 2004, to a crucial trade summit in The Hague, where he met Putin.
The EU has confirmed he did not declare the flights, as he should have done.
They were from Brussels to Luton, and then Luton to Rotterdam.
The Mail has spoken to a member of the flight crew who said Mandelson was ‘quite ratty’ because he wanted to get there faster.
Around that time, Mandelson enjoyed cosy relations with some of Putin’s inner circle.
In 2005, he had a private, unofficial and undeclared dinner with the Russian finance minister, arranged by Deripaska, and flew 2,000 miles to Siberia where he stayed at the aluminium oligarch’s dacha before being flogged in a traditional Russian ‘banya’ or sauna.
Last night Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch demanded the ‘disturbing new revelations’ be investigated, while shadow minister Alicia Kearns said Mandelson ‘stinks of a man who holds the British people in complete contempt’.
Mrs Badenoch said: ‘As Keir Starmer flies to the Munich Security Conference to lecture us about the Russian threat, these disturbing new revelations reinforce the recklessness of his decision to hand Britain’s most vital security relationship to Peter Mandelson, a man now facing serious questions over his dealings with Kremlin-linked oligarchs.
‘The intelligence and security committee must be provided with all relevant material relating to Mandelson’s time as EU trade commissioner.’
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and one of the Kremlin strongman’s favourite tycoon Oleg Deripaska (right) at Sochi in 2008
Peter Mandelson (second from left) at The Hague in the Netherlands with Putin and EU Commission president José Manuel Barroso
Ms Kearns, shadow home affairs minister, said: ‘Funny how after a few flights on an aluminium magnate’s private jet, suddenly tariffs melt faster than scrap in a smelter. First Epstein, then the Chinese Communist Party, now Putin – Mandelson’s black book knows no limits.
‘Mandelson stinks of a man who holds the British people in complete contempt.
‘He thought he’d got away with giving out confidential government information to his friends, he thought he’d got away with simpering to a paedophile, and he thought he’d get away with betraying the EU to Putin’s pet oligarch until the Mail’s revelations today.
‘There’s a movie yet to be made of all of this: Licence To Shill.’
Former prime minister Gordon Brown has said Mandelson’s email contacts with Epstein could constitute a ‘crime’.
When the Mail put the latest revelations to Mandelson, he said he could ‘not recall’ travel arrangements from so long ago but they would have ‘been made by his office at the Commission’.
