Peter Mandelson is facing scrutiny from the EU’s anti-fraud office after the European Commission asked investigators to examine his conduct during his tenure as the bloc’s trade commissioner, The Guardian reported.

The Commission said it referred Mandelson to the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) last week after the U.S. Department of Justice released documents that allegedly show he shared sensitive government information with the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The documents suggest the information Mandelson shared included details related to a €500-billion bailout to save the euro in 2010, the news agency said.

Mandelson served as EU trade commissioner from 2004 to 2008 before returning to the UK government as business secretary. 

An Olaf spokesperson confirmed the agency had been asked to examine Mandelson’s actions but said it could not say whether a formal investigation would take place, according to The Guardian. The inquiry is expected to be wide-ranging rather than limited to one issue, according to separate reporting by the Financial Times. 

In the UK, Mandelson has denied wrongdoing but was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office linked to his friendship with Epstein. He was released on bail hours later and is understood to have surrendered his passport after allegations that he was planning to flee the country, The Guardian said. 

Mandelson was removed from the post in September when it emerged he had remained in close contact with Epstein after the financier’s 2008 convictions for procuring a minor for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute, the news agency said. The Justice Department records indicate that he accepted at least $75,000 from Epstein in 2003 and 2004, according to the Financial Times.

The former British official is not unfamiliar with controversy.

While serving as EU trade commissioner, Mandelson was accused of granting favors to Russian oligarch and aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska, including by advocating for the removal of tariffs on the metal, according to the FT, which also noted that he had spent time on Deripaska’s £80-million yacht. Deripaska was blacklisted by the U.S. government in 2018 for his alleged role in serving as a proxy for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The fallout of the Epstein revelations continues to reverberate through the UK, The Guardian noted. On Thursday, Defence Secretary John Healey ordered a review of more than two decades of military records to determine whether Epstein or his associates booked RAF airfields for his aircraft. 

Former prime minister Gordon Brown warned last week that the British state may have facilitated Epstein’s crimes by allowing him to land his private jet at military bases, sometimes with unknown women aboard. Brown is said to be particularly concerned about a Gulfstream flight that landed at a Norfolk airbase in December 2000, before a visit to Sandringham involving Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, according to the report. 

The former prince was arrested last week on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, after emails allegedly showed he passed confidential information to Epstein while serving as a UK trade envoy.

Read more at The Guardian

Read more at The Financial Times