Indian-origin British MP Keith Vaz's finances probed

The finances of Indian-origin Labour MP Keith Vaz were subject to a secret police investigation that uncovered "hundreds of thousands of pounds in mystery bank accounts", a media report said.

Vaz, a minister in the Labour government, had almost 500,000 pounds deposited in accounts between 1997 and 2001, the Daily Mail reported.

A Scotland Yard probe found "significant amounts of cash" said to have been of a "suspicious nature".

Vaz denies any wrongdoing.

The Indian-origin leader chairs the home affairs select committee which holds the police to account.

Documents from the police suggest that in a single year 28,959 pounds was deposited into an HSBC account held by Vaz. A number of other bank accounts were also investigated, the daily said.

Detectives said their belief was that "the level of funds received are of a suspicious nature". However, no further action has been taken.

Vaz and his wife Maria Fernandes held seven bank accounts which were investigated by Scotland Yard. There was no suggestion that Fernandes has done anything wrong.

The daily also said that in 2000, the parliamentary commissioner for standards launched an inquiry into Vaz after there were allegations that he received money from businessmen in his constituency.

The next year, he was investigated for allegedly helping Indian billionaires, the Hinduja brothers, to obtain British passports.

Vaz was cleared of receiving illicit funds but was forced to resign for obstructing the inquiry and failing to provide information relating to his finances. He was also suspended from parliament.

"These matters relate to two parliamentary inquiries which began in 1999 and concluded in 2003.

My finances were discussed by every newspaper in the country for a period of three years and were the subject of extensive examination," Vaz was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.