Rees-Mogg in probe over £6million loans

JACOB Rees-Mogg is being investigated by Parliament’s anti-sleaze watchdog over loans worth £6million that he allegedly failed to properly declare.

The Commons Leader borrowed up to £2.94million a year in ‘director’s loans’ from Saliston Ltd, a UKbased property company he owned, between 2018 and 2020.

Although he disclosed that he was an ‘unremunerated director’ in the MPs’ register of interests, he did not reveal that he had taken out the loans – which were allegedly used to refurbish his home.

Following the reports in the Mail on Sunday last month, Labour said Mr Rees-Mogg appeared to have made ‘yet another egregious breach of the rules’.

The party urged the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, to look into the claims. Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner also wrote to Boris Johnson’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, Lord Geidt.

Yesterday Mr Rees-Mogg was added to the list of MPs that are under investigation by Miss Stone – although she has not confirmed what claims she is investigating.

In a statement yesterday, the Cabinet minister claimed that he had not broken any rules.

‘The register asks for earnings, not loans, which is why I was declared as a non-remunerated director until I resigned on entering Government,’ he said. ‘Loans are not earnings and are not declarable in the register of interests.’

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross is also under investigation for failing to declare more than £28,000 in outside earnings.