Blair aides investigated for impeding probe:paper

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) Britain's Times newspaper today reported that police were investigating aides to Prime Minister Tony Blair and officials from his Labour Party on suspicion of withholding evidence in a probe into party funding.

Prosecutors have advised detectives to look into suspected attempts to pervert the course of justice by impeding an investigation that aims to establish whether state honours were awarded by parties in return for cash, the paper said.

Blair was himself questioned by police on Thursday as a witness in the 9-month-old inquiry.

The police are still waiting to receive some emails and documents, while others have ''disappeared'', the Times said.

Neither Blair's Downing Street office nor the Metropolitan Police in London would comment on the report.

The Times quoted a prosecution source as saying: ''There is more than a suspicion that evidence has not been handed over, people have colluded and the police are not being helped ...

''What these people should remember is that they are not dealing with a parliamentary inquiry; this is a criminal investigation and anyone failing to cooperate is participating in a criminal offence.'' An opposition party has alleged that Labour and other political parties nominated people for seats in parliament's upper house, the House of Lords, in exchange for funding.

Blair's office said he had been interviewed by police as a witness, not a suspect. But the meeting further tarnished the reputation of a leader whose popularity has plunged over his decision to back the US-led Iraq war, and who is due to step down in 2007.

REUTERS LL HT1517