According to the article published in the newspaper yesterday Mr. Vaz has written to a High Court judge trying to halt proceedings against a firm which had lavished hospitality on him and his family.

“He signed it in his official capacity as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which has a key role in law-and-order issues,” the Daily Mail reported.

The MP will now be under pressure to step down as committee chairman amid accusations that he tried to interfere with the legal system and exploited his status to try to stop the case.

The MP for Leicester East was intervening on behalf of solicitor Shahrokh 'Sean' Mireskandari who, following revelations in Daily Mail last year that he had convictions in the U.S. and bogus legal qualifications, has been suspended from practising law in Britain.

At the time that Mr. Vaz wrote to the judge, Mireskandari's law firm, Dean and Dean, was involved in a long-running and costly legal dispute with an airline over a £400,000 legal bill which threatened the solicitor with bankruptcy.

In the letter, written to the High Court on June 19 last year, Mr. Vaz said: 'We are deeply concerned about the apparent way in which this ethnic-minority firm of solicitors has been dealt with. We have received a number of complaints from community representative authorities about this matter.

'The matter is now before the OJC (Office for Judicial Complaints).'

The letter, written by Mr. Vaz's office on House of Commons notepaper, concluded: 'In such circumstances it seems appropriate that the hearing should be adjourned pending the conclusion of the OJC's investigation.'

The Daily Mail said: “Former Europe Minister Mr. Vaz did not receive the consent of fellow committee members to make his extraordinary attempt to help the convicted conman, a notorious serial litigant whose firm was on the brink of losing its battle with Angel Airlines”.

Nor did Mr. Vaz reveal in his letter to the High Court that he had a close, mutually beneficial relationship with the solicitor - a Labour Party donor.

At Mireskandari's expense, he and his family enjoyed Wembley football matches, pop concerts and a trip to the Bolshoi Ballet, the newspaper accused.

There had been suspicions that Vaz has obtained undisclosed favors from the LTTE and pro Eelam Tamil Diaspora in the UK for his support for the LTTE.

Following is the Daily Mail news article:

 

Keith Vaz and the damning letter: How senior Labour MP 'abused his position' to help crooked lawyer in court
By Stephen Wright and Richard Pendlebury
Last updated at 12:58 PM on 16th March 2009

Damning evidence of how senior Labour MP Keith Vaz intervened in a court case on behalf of a crooked friend can be revealed today.

Mr Vaz wrote to a High Court judge trying to halt proceedings against a firm which had lavished hospitality on him and his family.

Astonishingly, he signed it in his official capacity as chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, which has a key role in law-and-order issues.

Labour MP Keith Vaz: Tried to halt a court case involving a firm which had lavished hospitality on him. Shahrokh Mireskandari, right, was suspended from practising law in Britain

The MP will now be under pressure to step down as committee chairman amid accusations that he tried to interfere with the legal system and exploited his status to try to stop the case.

The existence of Mr Vaz's extraordinary letter to the High Court was revealed by the Mail last September, but only now can full details be disclosed.

More...

• Keith Vaz, the freebie tickets and the truth about that letter to a judge in the High Court

• MAIL COMMENT: A shameless abuse of power and office

The MP for Leicester East was intervening on behalf of solicitor Shahrokh 'Sean' Mireskandari who, following revelations in this newspaper last year that he had convictions in the U.S. and bogus legal qualifications, has been suspended from practising law in Britain.

At the time that Mr Vaz wrote to the judge, Mireskandari's law firm, Dean and Dean, was involved in a long-running and costly legal dispute with an airline over a £400,000 legal bill which threatened the solicitor with bankruptcy.

In the letter, written to the High Court on June 19 last year, Mr Vaz said: 'We are deeply concerned about the apparent way in which this ethnic-minority firm of solicitors has been dealt with.

We have received a number of complaints from community representative authorities about this matter.

'The matter is now before the OJC (Office for Judicial Complaints).'

The letter, written by Mr Vaz's office on House of Commons notepaper, concluded: 'In such circumstances it seems appropriate that the hearing should be adjourned pending the conclusion of the OJC's investigation.'

Former Europe Minister Mr Vaz did not receive the consent of fellow committee members to make his extraordinary attempt to help the convicted conman, a notorious serial litigant whose firm was on the brink of losing its battle with Angel Airlines.

Nor did Mr Vaz reveal in his letter to the High Court that he had a close, mutually beneficial relationship with the solicitor - a Labour Party donor.

At Mireskandari's expense, he and his family enjoyed Wembley football matches, pop concerts and a trip to the Bolshoi Ballet.

Enlarge

The letter Vaz wrote to the High Court

Legal sources said the judge was furious at what he perceived to be 'political interference' and rejected the plea.

Yesterday there were calls for a new sleaze investigation into the affair. An inquiry, launched last autumn by Parliamentary Standards Commissioner John Lyon, cleared Mr Vaz of any wrongdoing. It was condemned as a whitewash.

Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve said: 'If true, the fact that Keith Vaz wrote as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee must cast real doubt on his continuing as chair.'

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Vince Cable also cast doubt on Mr Vaz's future as committee chairman. He said: 'This is an extraordinary and worrying revelation.'

Referring to the activities of Mr Vaz's crooked friend Mireskandari, he added: 'I think ordinary members of the public might well worry how the authorities can pursue solicitors who have been abusing their position, when this type of intervention has taken place.'

Ex-parliamentary sleazebuster Sir Alistair Graham said: 'I am really surprised that an experienced chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee should seek to use his position in such a way when he clearly had a personal conflict of interests.

'I would have thought that the committee would want to question the chairman about him using his position in clearly such an inappropriate way.'

Sir Alistair, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, added: 'I think it is a serious error of judgment that he attempted to inferfere in the civil judicial process when so close to the individual involved in that process. I would be surprised if there is not a further complaint to John Lyon about him not declaring such extensive hospitality.'

Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP for Ealing Southall - who was persuaded by Mr Vaz to co-sign the letter to the High Court judge - has publicly accused him of misleading him over the extent of his friendship with Mireskandari, who has been suspended by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for suspected dishonesty and accounting malpractice.

Last night Mr Vaz refused to explain why he had signed the letter to the High Court as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee.

He said: 'The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has considered all the evidence on this matter by the Daily Mail and dismissed the complaints in full. I have nothing to add.'

Keith Vaz, the freebie tickets and the truth about that letter to a judge in the High Court

As usual, the e-mail exchange between the chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee and his solicitor friend was flirtatious in tone.

'Guess who I've recommended for Lawyer of the Year?' teased the Right Hon Keith Vaz MP. 'You bad boy...' simpered Dr Shahrokh 'Sean' Mireskandari in delighted reply.

'They were like two lovers in the first flush of romance,' says a former employee of Mireskandari who was accidentally shown this particular email by his old boss.

Certainly Mireskandari showered the MP with gifts and appreciation. Thanks to the lawyer, the politician enjoyed the best seats at the biggest and most glamorous events around London.

Party people: Labour MP Keith Vaz and his wife Maria Fernandes at a London event

Mr Vaz's wife, human rights lawyer Maria Fernandes, was also a beneficiary of the Mireskandari largesse. None of this was declared in the MPs' register of interests.

'Vaz was frequently in Sean's office and was always after freebies,' confirms one former legal colleague of Mireskandari who witnessed it first-hand.

'He loved the high life; football, concerts, black-tie dinners. It was really undignified for such a senior politician.'

There was a quid pro quo, of course. And in spite of his obfuscations and curiously fuzzy recall, it is clear - not least from the details of the extraordinary and damning letter which we are able to reproduce today - that Keith Vaz has been a very 'bad boy' indeed.

So, let us briefly recapitulate the story of the lawyer and the politician.

Last autumn we exposed Mireskandari as a shabby fraud.
The then £750-an-hour solicitor to foreign royalty, oligarchs, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur and the National Black Police Association, had been a petty crook with a conviction in the U.S. for his part in a consumer scam.

As a result of that conviction he was put on probation, ordered to live in a government hostel and pay back thousands of dollars to his victims.

When initially approached by us, Mireskandari refused to reveal the origin of his basic law degree.

Keith Vaz dancing with Home Secretary Jacqui Smith at a Labour Party conference

That was because his long list of qualifications which seemingly underpinned his boast of being 'the best lawyer in the world' were in fact based on awards given to him by a 'degree-mill' which operated out of two rooms in Hawaii. It has since been closed down by the U.S. authorities.

We were also able to reveal how Mireskandari had wooed Vaz and how, in return, the MP twice intervened officially on his behalf.
The first time he tried to block an investigation into the lawyer by the legal watchdog the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), which had received a large number of complaints from Mireskandari clients.

The politician, who wrote in his capacity as Home Affairs Select Committee chairman, neglected to mention their close friendship and the gifts he had received.

As we disclose today, Vaz later wrote to the High Court, demanding that a case which threatened Mireskandari with bankruptcy be delayed.

Former Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, Elizabeth Filkin
Again, he wrote as the parliamentary committee chairman. And, once again, he omitted to disclose his close relationship with the man whose case he was pleading.

Because of our investigation and subsequent revelations, Mireskandari and his cronies have suffered a series of serious setbacks.

The lawyer himself has been suspended from practising on the grounds of 'substantial' suspected dishonesty involving client accounts. Predictably, he has appealed.

The glamorous West End offices of his law firm Dean and Dean were raided by SRA investigators who removed all legal papers. The firm has effectively closed. A host of creditors are pursuing him.

Nevertheless, he continues his tactic of ceaseless litigation against his many perceived enemies, which has seen two judges recently accuse him of presenting evidence that was 'misleading', 'without merit', 'distorted, inaccurate' and 'groundless'.

And what of Mr Vaz? Following our revelations, an investigation was launched by John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. In January Mr Lyon wrote to a Labour activist who had lodged a complaint against Mr Vaz as a result of our allegations.

Mr Lyon told the activist: 'Having carefully considered the evidence I have received, I have concluded that there are no grounds for believing that Mr Vaz failed to register or declare a relevant interest in respect of Dr Mireskandari or (his firm) Dean & Dean.

'The evidence I have received supports the assurances which Mr Vaz has given me, and which I accept, that while he knows Dr Mireskandari and has met him socially and professionally on a number of occasions, neither he nor his wife has had any financial relationship with or received any pecuniary or other material benefit either direct or indirect from Dr Mireskandari or from Dean & Dean Solicitors.'

Mr Lyon dismissed the complaint and regards the matter as closed.

One has to wonder at the scope, thoroughness and credulity of his so-called 'investigation'. He certainly made no attempt to contact us.

Perhaps he did not have the advantage of examining Mr Vaz's extraordinary High Court letter, which we now reproduce verbatim.

We can also disclose much greater detail of the other ways in which the MP abused his senior parliamentary position to aid a crook. And his rewards for doing so.

Of course, Keith Vaz has long been tainted by allegations of sleaze. In 2001 he was at the centre of the passport scandal involving the billionaire Indian Hinduja brothers, which led to the resignation of then Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson.

Bolshoi ballerina Zakharova dances at the Royal Opera House in London

A number of charges of misbehaviour were laid against Mr Vaz - whose wife's firm had worked for the Hindujas - and investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner Elizabeth Filkin.

Most of the charges against Mr Vaz were unproven but his 'obfuscation, prevarication, evasiveness and delay', as Mrs Filkin described it, and false allegations he made against a witness, saw him suspended from the House of Commons in disgrace.

When Mr Vaz was made Home Affairs Committee chairman in 2007 there was widespread disquiet, given the past question marks over his probity.

But the possibilities this elevation afforded were not missed by Mireskandari, whose firm had represented the Hindujas.

Two matters were of growing concern to the lawyer.

The first was the increasing interest shown in him by the regulators because of complaints from his largely Asian and Middle Eastern clientele. The second was the Angel Airlines case.

Mireskandari had once represented the small Romanian airline, whose Iranian-born owner was shocked by the size of his subsequent bill and refused to pay.

A judge agreed with the airline and cut the bill by more than three quarters. But Mireskandari's firm appealed against the decision on more than 20 occasions, racking up huge further costs. The lawyer wanted powerful friends to plead his case. But how could they be encouraged to help?

His bait was two executive boxes; one at the new Wembley stadium and the other at London's premier music venue, the O2 Arena.

A source at Wembley explains: 'Before every event Dean and Dean were sent half the tickets from a 20-seat box. I understand there was a similar arrangement at the O2.'

He added: 'Certainly, Mr Vaz was a very familiar face here.'

A former employee at Dean and Dean, who was responsible for corporate entertaining, confirmed this. 'Vaz was guaranteed as many tickets as he liked at either venue. He was invited to absolutely everything - including Sean's birthday party at the O2 box, which was for only his closest friends.'

A former senior lawyer at the firm recalls: 'There was a big football match at Wembley approaching and I was sitting in Sean's office when Vaz rang.

Concert: Barbra Streisand

'Sean said to Vaz, "Guess what I have done. I've not only got you some tickets for my box, but I have got you another ten. How? I have my ways and means".

He added: 'If Vaz expressed a last-minute interest in an event and the box was already taken, all the other guests would be disinvited.'

And so, in the summer of 2007, Mr Vaz and his wife were at Wembley for the gala George Michael concert. His wife also saw Barbra Streisand and the Rolling Stones at the O2 and was a guest at the Bolshoi Ballet gala opening and party at the Russian embassy afterwards.

All courtesy of Mireskandari. Mr Vaz even gave the eulogy at the funeral of the lawyer's mother (The MP later dismissed this sign of intimacy by saying: 'I give a lot of eulogies.')

Payback of a more serious kind came in September 2007 when Mr Vaz weighed in on the lawyer's side against the SRA.

He wrote to SRA chief executive Antony Townsend expressing concern about complaints of racism he received from one 'Dr S Mireskandari, senior partner of the firm Dean and Dean'. That was just the start of it, as another ex- colleague recalls.

'Vaz then organised what could only be described as an ambush against Townsend in the Commons.'

On that occasion Mr Townsend went to Westminster at the politician's invitation, expecting to discuss concerns about the SRA with Mr Vaz and a few aides.

Our source was present when Mr Townsend walked into a committee room. 'He found himself faced by 20 to 30 of Sean's confederates, who were very hostile.'

The witness added: 'Vaz gave the impression that he, as chair of the Home Affairs Committee, was merely mediating between a number of ethnic-minority lawyers and the SRA. But it was a set-up. The exercise was purely for his friend Sean's benefit.'

As we reported last autumn, Vaz's intervention led to the creation of a working party to investigate claims of racism by the SRA. Mireskandari then launched a £10million lawsuit against the watchdog claiming racial harassment.

Mireskandari had by then been presented with the 'Lawyer of the Year' award by Mr Vaz.

But he also needed the MP to turn his attention and influence to the Angel Airlines affair. The lawyer was running out of appeal options and facing ruinous cost claims.

Mr Vaz's letter to the High Court last summer was read by Mr Justice Coulson, shortly before he had to decide the case.
One lawyer present said: 'He was visibly upset ... absolutely furious about this interference in the judicial process. He gave the letter very short shrift.'

The judge said the whole Angel Airlines saga had been an 'abuse of process' by Dean and Dean and awarded costs of more than £400,000 against it.

The firm did not respond to a statutory demand for payment and in November there was a contested bankruptcy hearing against Mireskandari and a number of other Dean and Dean partners.

However much Mireskandari or his cohorts have to pay up, the lawyer cannot accuse Mr Vaz of having not strained every sinew to protect them and their disgraced firm. Mr Vaz refuses to justify his interventions as select committee chairman.

But asked if he regretted nominating Mireskandari for a coveted award, he replied: 'I did not nominate him. That is done by an on-line public vote. I am not a member of the public. I do not decide on these things.'

Even if the MP did not know about Mireskandari's shady past, the relationship was a catastrophic error of judgment.

By any measure he's been a 'bad boy'.