British cops are unlikely to probe Keith Vaz’s property empire not least because of a rule protecting politicians from scrutiny placed in UK law at the behest of the European Union. Tory MP Andrew Bridgen asked the National Crime Agency to serve an unexplained wealth order on Vaz. Fortunately for Vaz measures put into the Criminal Finances Act (2017) mean politicians in the EEA can only be served with such an order if there is sufficient suspicion that they are involved in serious organised criminality. The Act states that to impose an order the High Court must:

“Be satisfied that the respondent is a politically exposed person, or there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that—(i) the respondent is, or has been, involved in serious crime (whether in a part of the Uited Kingdom or elsewhere), or (ii) a person connected with the respondent is, or has been, so involved […]

““politically exposed person” means a person who is— (a) an individual who is, or has been, entrusted with prominent public functions by an international organisation or by a State other than the United Kingdom or another EEA State…”

MPs voted to exempt themselves, yet left non-EEA MPs in Africa, Russia and China open to the imposition of such orders, effectively creating a two-tier system of scrutiny dependent on nationality. Odd…

Vaz strenuously denies the claims about his wealth. Not that it matters considering MPs have exempted themselves from scrutiny…