[Intl-tobacco] MPs to question BAT bosses (fwd)

[Robert Weissman]

MPs to question BAT bosses
by Kevin Maguire
Source: The Guardian/The Observer, Friday, 2/4/00

The former Tory chancellor Kenneth Clarke and the chairman of British
American Tobacco are to be grilled by MPs about how the company exploits
cigarette smuggling.

Mr Clarke, now the deputy chairman of BAT, and Martin Broughton will be
questioned about black marketeering.

The all-party Commons health committee agreed yesterday to question the
pair after the Guardian disclosed the extent to which the company benefits
from the illegal trade.

MPs believe Mr Broughton was less than forthcoming recently when he
claimed BAT worked closely with the authorities to combat smuggling. His
third appearance during the course of a select committee inquiry is
exceptional.

Mr Clarke, a non-executive director of the world's second-largest tobacco
firm, was "invited" after the MPs were astonished by his admission that
BAT supplied cigarettes knowing they would end up on the black market.

Both men will appear on February 16 alongside the investigative journalist
Duncan Campbell, whose research on BAT inolvement in Latin America, Asia
and the far east has been published this week in the Guardian.

Peter Brand, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee, said Mr Broughton
had previously maintained that the company worked to prevent its
cigarettes ending up on the black market.

Mr Clarke admitted in yesterday's Guardian that BAT made its brands
"available alongside those of our competitors in the smuggled as well as
the legitimate market".

The admission supported evidence in documents obtained from BAT's
Guildford depository and went way beyond the "blind eye" the company had
previously claimed it turned.

Audrey Wise, a Labour member of the committee, said: "I expect Kenneth
Clarke will be appreciative of the chance to explain his extraordinary
views expressed in the Guardian. It's obvious that [Mr Broughton] has
proved good at avoiding some of the most important issues. We will now
have a chance to concentrate on the smuggling which is after all a big
unsavoury racket."

BAT said last night it welcomed the opportunity for Mr Broughton to appear
again.