Mandelson: I did not talk to Russian about EU tariffs

LORD Mandelson today suggested he had never discussed EU trade tariffs with the Russian billionaire at the centre of the "yachtgate" affair.

The Business Secretary declared that he had not at any point talked about business with Oleg Deripaska, the aluminium tycoon who hosted him and Tory George Osborne on his yacht off Corfu this summer.

Lord Mandelson rejects accusations he intervened to get tariffs reduced for Mr Deripaska, who stood to gain hundreds of millions of pounds.

He said he would answer "fully and faithfully" all questions put to him by the House of Lords, whose register of interests he has to complete this week.

The minister last week refused repeatedly to say whether he had talked about tariffs with Mr Deripaska when he was EU Trade Commissioner. Although he insists no such discussions took place on the yacht, there was speculation that in previous meetings in Russia the subject had been raised.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The question is not how many times I talk to somebody, but what happens in the conversation. In these conversations, with this gentleman, there was no discussion of EU trade business, there was no discussion about tariffs or anti-dumping duties. The Director-General for Trade of the European Commission has made this absolutely clear that the whole Commission...operated in the normal way. It's simply not possible for me as commissioner in those circumstances to do favours for individuals and I wouldn't dream of trying."

When asked if he would be declaring the hospitality he received on the Russian's yacht, he replied: "I will be answering fully and faithfully to every question put to me by the House of Lords and any other register of interest."

Lord Mandelson said his case was different from that of the shadow chancellor, who last week apologised for meeting Mr Deripaska. "I had no discussion of any business at all during those discussions and therefore no impropriety and no conflict of interest arose," he said.

"That is the difference between me and George Osborne and why he needed to apologise and explain his behaviour and why I too have explained that during my conversations there was no conflict arising and therefore no further action for me to take," he said.

Last month, Lord Mandelson admitted meeting Mr Deripaska two years earlier than previously revealed. EU officials had said the two had met socially in 2006 and last year. But in a letter to the Times, he revealed they first met in 2004.

In his letter, last month, Lord Mandelson wrote: "During the weekend when I moved from Brussels to London and prior to me being admitted to hospital for an urgent medical procedure, a statement was released to the press which said I had had meetings with Mr Deripaska in 2006 and 2007.

"Some people formed the reasonable view, therefore, that my first meeting with him was in 2006. This is not the case: To the best of my recollection we first met in 2004 and I met him several times subsequently."