Tory MP Bob Stewart is being investigated by the standards commissioner after openDemocracy revealed he failed to declare his directorship of a foreign defence company while sitting on Parliament’s defence committee.
An investigation by openDemocracy and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) found Stewart hid the role he held at Luxembourg-registered firm Ksantex SARL, a provider of defence equipment and advice, between February 2015 and July 2017. During this time he was a member of the House of Commons defence select committee, tasked with overseeing the work of government on defence issues.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launched its investigation on 28 June, a week after our story was published. Its website states the matter being investigated relates to: “Registration of interests under Category 1 of the Guide to the Rules [Employment and earnings] Declaration of an interest.”
MPs must declare all relevant outside interests on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests within one month of election. Any changes to their interests must be registered within 28 days. At no point throughout his two and a half year directorship did Stewart declare his interest in Ksantex.
Stewart, the MP for Beckenham in south-east London, is also due in court this week charged with a racially aggravated public order offence.
As part of our investigation, openDemocracy asked Stewart why he hadn’t declared his role at Ksantex. He said: “I believe I had already registered my interest in that group of companies in 2012.”
Our reporters found Stewart did declare a consultancy arrangement with a separate company, VES Consultancy (UK) Ltd in 2012. He earned £3,000 per month for a year for the “provision of leadership/planning training and advice”. His declaration said the work lasted one year from 1 July 2010.
VES Consultancy (UK) Ltd, which was dissolved a year ago, had no obvious corporate links to Ksantex SARL, so it was initially unclear why Stewart considered them part of a group of companies. But the two firms did have a connection: French-Azerbaijani businessman Khagani Bashirov, who served time in jail in relation to an investigation into the disappearance of funds from the International Bank of Azerbaijan.
Bashirov confirmed to openDemocracy that he controlled both VES Consultancy (UK) Ltd and Ksantex SARL.
According to Bashirov, he met with Stewart “once or twice” and subsequently hired him to help with his consultancy business because he wanted to “start providing economic consultancy services” to his clients and “the presence of such a consultant could be a great help”.
While it is unclear whether the Tory MP was paid by Ksantex SARL, he confirmed meeting Bashirov socially while working for VES Consultancy, and held they “certainly did not discuss business”. He said he was not aware of Bashirov’s ownership of VES or links to Ksantex SARL, and that he wouldn’t have taken the role if he had known about Bashirov serving jail time.
Stewart also told openDemocracy he wasn’t aware that Ksantex SARL was involved in defence work, stating that he believed the business of the group “was about construction and in no way defence-related”.
However, during Stewart’s directorship, the company was explicit on its website about its business in defence. An archived version of its website from 2016 boasts a wide range of technologies and services and also lists tactical equipment, encrypted technology, recording systems and drones among the products it sold.
Bashirov said that Ksantex SARL had not sold or bought military equipment but that it offered “consulting in the field of civil and military radars”.
He also confirmed to openDemocracy that Stewart had been registered in Luxembourg as a non-executive director of the company.
