Complaint likely over Archer’s Kurdish appeal

Jeffrey Archer could face a police investigation into claims that millions of pounds of charity money raised for Kurdish refugees was stolen, it was disclosed today.

Ex-Tory MP Emma Nicholson said she was prepared to make a formal complaint to Scotland Yard’s fraud squad over funds missing from the Simple Truth appeal, organised by Archer in 1991.

Shamed peer Archer, who fleetingly left Belmarsh Prison today to attend his mother’s funeral, said, at the time, that £57m was collected for Kurds in Iraq after the Gulf War.

But Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Nicholson, who defected from the Tories in 1995, said that "practically nothing" had reached the Kurdish people.

The MEP and former vice chairman of the Conservative Party, who supports the Iraqi refugee charity AMAR, today urged investigators to contact the Kurdish community.

"What needs to happen now is for people to talk to the Kurds to hear their side of the story," she said.

"It is claimed that £57m was raised, but when the Kurdish people came to see me, practically nothing of that had come to them."

In a newspaper article today Ms Nicholson said: "I have no doubt money was stolen and there is an urgent need that Archer’s activities should be investigated."

The newspaper reports that as little as £250,000 reached refugees in Iraq.

The appeal by Archer, who was convicted of perjury perverting the course of justice at the Old Bailey on Thursday, centred on a high-profile charity concert staged at Wembley Arena in London.

Attracting support from singers Chris de Burgh, Paul Simon and Sting, it was watched by a worldwide television audience of 50 million.

John Major, the British Prime Minister at the time, pledged £10m for the appeal from the Government.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the fraud squad would investigate any complaint made against Archer in connection with the Simple Truth appeal.