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Bell Pottinger Group: South Africa

Question for Department for International Trade

UIN HL1263, tabled on 5 September 2017

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Government staff, in the UK or in South Africa, were consulted by Bell Pottinger's Directors before they took income for public affairs work in South Africa commissioned by businesspeople linked to President Zuma.

Answered on

19 September 2017

The behaviour of Bell Pottinger in South Africa has clearly been completely unacceptable. We welcome the investigations conducted by the Public Relations and Communications Association and Herbert Smith Freehills and the conclusions of their reports.

At no stage was Her Majesty's Government (HMG) in any way involved in this work, nor consulted in advance.

The UK has one of the world’s toughest anti-corruption laws, and HMG takes any allegations of bribery or corruption extremely seriously.