Today's Independent on Sunday piece on Conservative MPs' owning shares in companies like Tesco which happen to have business links with Zimbabwe appears trivial compared with the question I have been asking in Parliament for some months now: why is Northern Rock active in Zimbabwe?
When Northern Rock was nationalised, we were told it was a domestic operation. But their Guernsey subsidiary's website not only invites business from Zimbabwe, it even makes an exceptional case for it, as one of only three African countries they will take deposits from.
The Government refuses to telll us why or how much money is involved. Members of the Government like John Mann MP are quoted in the Independent story condemning Conservative MPs for their business links - if he is that enraged, maybe he might have a word with Alistair Darling as to why our new state-owned bank is going out of its way to do business in Zimbabwe, and why the Government won't answer any questions about it?
The Government wasn't even able to confirm to me that Northern Rock was compliant with the financial sanctions regime in place against leading members of the Mugabe regime, opening up the terrifying possibility that the Government-owned bank is providing off-shore tax-free financial services to members of the regime, a tax haven for their ill-gotten gains.
