Mayhew denies suppressing information on Iraqi 'supergun'

[UPI]

LONDON (UPI) -- Former Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew told the
arms-for-Iraq inquiry Thursday he had not tried to suppress information
in the Iraqi ``supergun'' affair.
Mayhew, now secretary of state for Northern Ireland, told the inquiry
it would have been ``wholly wrongful'' to have withheld information on
the case.
Mayhew was called to give evidence to the inquiry chaired by Lord
Justice Richard Scott following allegations by former Conservative Party
lawmaker Sir Hal Miller that Mayhew had told him to suppress documents
in the prosecution of two businessmen accused of illegal export of arms
components to Iraq in breach of an embargo on the country.
The charges against the two businessmen were later dropped.
Miller told the inquiry on Monday the government was fully aware that
eight steel tubes -- parts for a high-velocity ``supergun'' -- were to be
exported to Iraq in 1990 in contravention of the arms embargo.
He said he had documentary evidence from the Department of Trade and
Industry on the deal and that Mayhew had approached him not to appear as
a witness on behalf of the two businessmen.
Mayhew dismissed the charges that he tried to suppress information as
``inconceivable.''