No charges after UK "cash for honours" probe-media

LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) No one will be charged with the illegal sale of state honours as a result of a police enquiry that dogged former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's last months in office, British media reported.

Police completed their probe three months ago and handed their findings to the Crown Prosecution Service, which has to decide whether to press charges.

British media said the CPS would announce on Friday its decision not to bring criminal charges.

A CPS spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports.

''The decision-making process is ongoing. We have no timing on a decision. If journalists wish to call us tomorrow morning that is entirely up to you,'' she told Reuters. ''Anything being reported is speculation.'' Blair was interviewed as a witness three times during the ''cash for honours'' enquiry, which lasted 16 months and cost one million pounds (2.05 million dollars).

It was the first time a serving British prime minister had been questioned in a criminal investigation.

The enquiry damaged his reputation -- already battered by the war in Iraq -- and many observers believed it contributed to the pressure from his party to leave office early. Blair stood down last month after 10 years as prime minister.

The police probe focused on whether political parties had nominated wealthy supporters for state honours, giving them seats in the unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, in return for loans.

Police interviewed a total of 136 people as witnesses and suspects.

Angus MacNeil, the Scottish Nationalist parliamentarian whose allegations triggered the police enquiry in March 2006, described the press reports as ''extraordinary'' and said that, if true, the CPS decision left many questions unanswered.

Reuters DH VP0517