Vaz cleared over Hinduja payments to wife

The Commons standards watchdog has cleared the former Europe minister, Keith Vaz, of failing to register payments to his wife's law firm by the Hinduja brothers.

However, the standards commissioner, Elizabeth Filkin, said he colluded with his wife to conceal the payments.

Mrs Filkin's report, one of the last she will make before she quits her job, may lead to calls for disciplinary action against the MP for Leicester East. In a previous investigation, Mrs Filkin said she had not been given full cooperation by Mr Vaz.

In the latest allegations, Mr Vaz was accused of failing to disclose £3,000 in payments by the Hinduja brothers.

In her report, Mrs Filkin said the payments had been given to his wife for legal advice on immigration issues.

Many of the cases had been pursued by Mr Vaz before becoming a minister in May 1999.

Mrs Filkin concluded that Mr Vaz gained no direct personal benefit, and did not, under Commons rules, have to disclose the payments to his wife.

But she criticised Mr Vaz for his secrecy, writing: "It is clear to me there has been deliberate collusion over many months between Mr Vaz and his wife to conceal this fact and to prevent me from obtaining accurate information about his possible financial relationship with the Hinduja family".

The payments were to Mr Vaz's wife, Maria Fernandes, a solicitor specialising in immigration law. Before becoming a minister, Mr Vaz lobbied the government to help the Hindujas over their passport applications.

Peter Mandelson was forced to resign as a cabinet minister over his contacts with the Hindujas.

Mrs Filkin found him guilty of two minor transgressions - failing to disclose promptly a payment made by a company owned by a peer and failing to register that he remained in employment with the Leicester law centre for some months after his election to the Commons in 1997.