Michael Howard to meet SFO over Somalia oil deal

Crime agency has confirmed no suspicion attaches to former Tory leader, company says

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(Image credit: Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Michael Howard, David Cameron's predecessor as leader of the Conservative Party, is to meet officials from the Serious Fraud Office in connection with a criminal investigation into Soma Oil and Gas, the company for which he acts as non-executive chairman.

The SFO launched its investigation last week. On Monday it emerged the basis for the probe is a United Nations report alleging conflicts of interest related to oil exploration in Somalia. In particular the report is critical of payments worth almost $600,000 to the Somali oil ministry and further amounts to its legal advisers, which were made in the year after it signed an exclusive deal in August 2013.

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