Mandelson ‘told Epstein he was trying to change bankers’ bonuses tax policy’

Lord Peter Mandelson appears to have told Jeffrey Epstein he was “trying hard” to change policy on bankers’ bonuses not long after Gordon Brown’s government clamped down on them in the wake of the financial crisis.

Emails released by the US Department of Justice appear to show a discussion in 2009 between disgraced paedophile financier Epstein and Lord Mandelson, as they discuss a tax on bankers’ bonuses.

The peer, who was sacked as US ambassador last year because of his links to Epstein, has featured throughout the document dump.

An email dated December 15, 2009, which appears to be from Epstein, reads: “any real chance of making the tax only on the cash portion of the bankers bonus”.

The reply, apparently from Lord Mandelson, reads: “Trying hard to amend as I explained to Jes last night. Treasury digging in but I am on case.”

The emails suggest the peer, then business secretary, was prepared to lobby the Government over the so-called “super tax” introduced in early December 2009, by then-chancellor Alistair Darling, to clamp down on bank profits being used to pay large bonuses for bankers in the wake of the financial crisis.

Lord Mandelson told the Press Association: “Every UK and international bank was making the same argument about the impact on UK financial services.

“My conversations in government at the time reflected the views of the sector as a whole not a single individual.”

He also said he did not remember receiving payments from Epstein which totalled 75,000 US dollars and were made when he was a Labour MP.

In one bank statement, a payment of 25,000 US dollars to the account of Reinaldo Avila da Silva, now Lord Mandelson’s husband, features on May 14, 2003.

The statement appears to describe “Peter Mandelson” as the beneficiary of the payment, as the allocation “BEN” appears next to his name.

Two later statements from May and June 2004 also feature 25,000 dollar payments to Lord Mandelson, one to an account which appears in his name, and another in which he appears to be listed as a beneficiary.

At the time, he was Labour MP for Hartlepool.

Lord Mandelson told PA: “I have no record and no recollection of receiving these sums and do not know if the documents are authentic.

“I can say clearly, though, I regret ever having known Epstein. I was wrong to believe Epstein and swallow his lies following his conviction and to continue my association with him afterwards.

“I deeply regret doing so and apologise unequivocally to the women and girls who suffered.”

Other disclosures from the latest Epstein files show a man who appears to be Lord Mandelson in a series of undated photographs, standing in his pants and a T-shirt alongside a woman whose face has been hidden.

The peer told the BBC he “cannot place the location or the woman and I cannot think what the circumstances were”.

Elsewhere, the files appeared to show Mr da Silva was transferred thousands of pounds by Epstein to pay for a fee so he could attend the British School of Osteopathy.

Being pictured or mentioned in the Epstein files is not an indicator of any wrongdoing.

The peer was sacked as the ambassador to Washington DC last year after disclosures of his continued contact with Epstein following the financier’s guilty plea in 2008 to soliciting prostitution and soliciting a minor.

Communities Secretary Steve Reed was asked by Sky News on Sunday if Lord Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage because of his association with Epstein.

He replied: “I think before taking any action like that, we need to understand exactly what’s happened.

“You’re asking me here about something that happened nearly 20 years ago. I don’t know the full detail of it, I wasn’t in government 20 years ago.

“I don’t know whether he declared it or not, and he should have done – the declaration rules had been brought in by then – so I think it would be for Peter Mandelson to explain whether or not that money was properly declared, and if not, then he will need to account for that.”