Liz Truss has offered her backing to No 10 chief of staff Mark Fullbrook after he was interviewed by the FBI as part of an investigation into an alleged bribery plot.
The prime minister’s closest adviser was questioned as a witness in a US Department of Justice (DoJ) and FBI investigation, it emerged on Sunday.
Asked if Ms Truss was standing by Mr Fullbrook “100 per cent”, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “Yes … He has her full support.”
Questioned why he did not join Ms Truss on her US trip for the UN conference, the spokesperson said: “It’s not usual for the chiefs of staff to remain in Downing Street,” adding that Mr Fullbrook would “oversee” the work of government.
US investigators are looking into allegations that London-based businessman Julio Martin Herrera Velutini tried to bribe the governor of Puerto Rico, a US territory.
Mr Herrera Velutini, a Conservative Party donor, is accused of bribing Puerto Rica’s governor at the time, Wanda Vazquez Garced. Prosecutors claim he wanted Ms Vazquez to sack her financial regulator.
The FBI approached the UK’s National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police in April to help secure Mr Fullbrook’s attendance at a formal interview, the Sunday Times first reported.
The new No 10 chief of staff, who led Ms Truss’s leadership campaign, was interviewed by US authorities because of his work for, and role at, CT Group – the Australian-British lobbying firm founded by Lynton Crosby.
US court records allege that the alleged bribe was paid through CT Group. Mr Fullbrook was employed as the company’s chief global project officer.
Mr Fullbrook strongly denies any wrongdoing. A representative said: “Our client was not involved in the illegal conduct being alleged and is not being investigated in relation to it.
“He is merely a witness to it, and has and is fully cooperating with the relevant US law enforcement authorities. Any allegation that he is unfit to hold the position of chief of staff is wholly untrue.”
The representative stressed that the prime minister’s adviser “had absolutely no knowledge of any alleged bribery or corruption when CT Group contracted to provide services to Julio Herrera Velutini”.
They also said that Mr Fullbrook did not carry out any work for Ms Vazquez Garced, the politician allegedly being bribed.
It comes as Ms Truss conceded that negotiations for a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US will not restart for years ahead of a meeting with president Joe Biden at the sidelines of the UN summit.
“There aren’t currently any negotiations taking place with the US and I don’t have an expectation that those are going to start in the short to medium term,” she told reporters flying with her to New York.
