Written question asked by Michael Moore (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 4 February 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 February 2003. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Wednesday, 12 February 2003 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what evidence he has received from the United Nations relating to the UN report on illegal resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; what additional investigations in the United Kingdom have been or will be undertaken; and if he will make a statement. - Includes ref to UN Security Council Resolution 1457.

Answer: Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what evidence he has received from the United Nations relating to the UN report on illegal resource exploitation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; what additional investigations in the United Kingdom have been or will be undertaken; and if he will make a statement. [96535] Mr. Rammell: We take seriously the allegations in the UN Expert Panel report against 12 UK companies. Where there is clear evidence of wrongdoing HMG will consider taking appropriate action. We asked for further information from the UN Expert Panel in November 2002 regarding the allegations. However, the Panel's mandate expired when it submitted its report (i.e. on 18 October 2002) and it was therefore unable to re-start work to produce the information requested until a new mandate had been granted. This was given by UN Security Council Resolution 1457 of 24 January. We are pressing the Panel to provide the information as soon as possible.

Secondary information