Blair's office pledges cooperate in funding probe

LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office pledged to cooperate fully with a police probe into party funding today after a newspaper said investigators suspected there had been obstruction.

Britain's Times newspaper reported today police were investigating Blair aides and officials from his Labour Party on suspicion of withholding evidence in the nine-month-old probe, which has tarnished the reputation of the prime minister.

London police declined to comment on the report.

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.

''The prime minister has made it clear consistently that Downing Street will cooperate with police and police will have access to all the material,'' Blair's official spokesman said today in response to questions about the Times report.

The spokesman said police would decide what was relevant, without elaborating. Downing Street does not comment on any ongoing police investigation, he added.

Blair was questioned by police on Thursday at his Downing Street office. His spokesman said then he had been interviewed as a witness, not as a suspect.

However it was the first time a serving prime minister had been quizzed in a criminal investigation and it was another blow to 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.

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

The newspaper 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,'' the source was quoted as saying.

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 today stood by his chief fundraiser Lord Michael Levy during a trip to the West Asia. Levy is also Blair's special Middle East envoy.

''The whole reason I'm here is because of the importance I attach to this process. Anything and anyone who can help is someone who is immensely helpful to me,'' Blair told a news conference when asked about Levy.

Levy has been questioned twice by police over the funding probe and there is speculation that he and other top Blair aides will be quizzed again next year.

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