Leading civil servants to face MPs over Hinduja affair

Britain's most senior civil servant is to be questioned by MPs investigating why Whitehall papers at the centre of the Hinduja passport affair were withheld from the Parliamentary ombudsman.

Sir Richard Wilson, the outgoing Cabinet Secretary, and John Gieve, Permanent Secretary at the Home Office, have been summoned before a powerful Commons committee to explain why they refused to co-operate with the inquiry conducted by Sir Michael Buckby.

Sir Michael's report condemned the refusal to release documents, claiming he faced a "brick wall". It also warned that ministers had broken their own rules on open government. He accused the Home Office of failing to maintain its files on the sensitive issue 'in anything approaching an adequate manner'. The Cabinet Office later apologised and agreed to release the documents.

The two civil servants will appear before the Commons Public Administration Committee next month as part of an inquiry into open government.

The Cabinet Office and Home Office were criticised by Sir Michael for withholding papers relating to an alleged telephone conversation in 1998 between Peter Mandelson and Mike O'Brien, then a Home Office minister, about a passport application by the Indian businessman Srichand Hinduja.

The affair led to Mr Mandelson's resignation as Northern Ireland secretary. Mr Hinduja and his family had donated £1m towards the Millennium Dome, for which Mr Mandelson had responsibility.