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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Ex-Met boss cleared of contracts | Ex-Met boss cleared of contracts |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair has been cleared of misconduct over the award of police contracts valued at £3m to a friend. | Former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair has been cleared of misconduct over the award of police contracts valued at £3m to a friend. |
| Sir Ian's spokeswoman said an independent inquiry found "absolutely no evidence of dishonesty". | Sir Ian's spokeswoman said an independent inquiry found "absolutely no evidence of dishonesty". |
| The inquiry looked at a contract given in 2002 to the consultancy firm Impact Plus, later Hitachi Consulting, owned by his skiing partner Andy Miller. | The inquiry looked at a contract given in 2002 to the consultancy firm Impact Plus, later Hitachi Consulting, owned by his skiing partner Andy Miller. |
| The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) does not plan to publish the report. | |
| Sir Ian has maintained he was "open and straightforward" about his relationship with Mr Miller. | |
| The former Commissioner has not seen the report himself. | |
| A statement on the inquiry said: "Sir Ian Blair has now been informed by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) that the report of Sir Ronnie Flanagan has acquitted him of allegations of impropriety. | |
| I can find no reason why the police authority... should refuse to publish a report which exonerates me entirely from allegations of wrongdoing Sir Ian Blair | |
| "The MPA has also informed Sir Ian that it does not intend to take any further action in respect of him, but that it does not propose to publish the report. | |
| "Sir Ian is now left to take the unilateral action of issuing this press release in order to put into the public domain the findings made by Sir Ronnie. | |
| "He is unable however to release the report since he has not been provided with a copy," it said. | |
| Sir Ian released details of three of the conclusions of the inquiry passed to him in a letter which established that there was no basis for a criminal prosecution. | |
| 'Thorough inquiry' | |
| Sir Ian has called on the MPA to publish the full report. | |
| He said: "I can find no reason why the police authority, whom I served as commissioner and deputy commissioner for nine years, should refuse to publish a report which exonerates me entirely from allegations of wrongdoing. | |
| "Sir Ronnie's interim report, and now his final report, have been based on a thorough and lengthy inquiry. | |
| "It is a great sadness that all of the hard work involved in the extraordinary transformation of communications which the C3i Programme brought to the Met should be overshadowed by this inquiry and now this refusal to publish its findings." | |
| Sir Ian stepped down last December after he lost the support of Mayor of London Boris Johnson. | Sir Ian stepped down last December after he lost the support of Mayor of London Boris Johnson. |