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UK minister under investigation over bribery allegations

Britain's top civil servant is investigating charges that a government minister was linked to a bribe her husband allegedly took from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said on Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell is looking at the charges against Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell at the request of the opposition Conservative Party, Blair's official spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with government policy.

"Tessa Jowell has made clear how much she ... wants to be sure everything she has done is in keeping with the [rules on ministers' conduct], therefore facts have to be established," he said.

Jowell, a close Blair ally, has said she did nothing wrong by co-signing a loan application that a newspaper report said was linked to a bribe her husband allegedly took from Berlusconi.

Her husband, lawyer David Mills, is under investigation by prosecutors in Milan who said they intend to seek Berlusconi's indictment on corruption charges.

The premier is accused of ordering the payment of at least US$600,000 to Mills in 1997 to give false testimony in two trials against him. Italian prosecutors say Mills gave false testimony in two hearings, in 1997 and 1998.

Berlusconi and Mills both deny any wrongdoing, saying the charges are politically motivated.

Asked by the BBC if the money her husband had reportedly received had come from Berlusconi, Mills said: "One thing is absolutely certain. It didn't."

The Sunday Times newspaper said that Mills had used the home mortgage co-signed by Jowell as part of a complex arrangement that allowed him to bring the alleged bribe proceeds into Britain.
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