Robinson will not face charges over £500,000 business grants

Geoffrey Robinson, former paymaster general, was told yesterday he will not face charges after an investigation into government grants made to his Transtec company.

Geoffrey Robinson, former paymaster general, was told yesterday he will not face charges after an investigation into government grants made to his Transtec company.

Police said there was insufficient evidence to charge him or any other individual or company after the inquiry by the West Midlands Police major fraud unit. The inquiry was into grants made by the Department of Trade and Industry to Transtec between 1986 and 1989.

Mr Robinson said yesterday: "This is a complete vindication ... I'm very pleased but not at all surprised at the finding. This is ... another investigation that has proved absolutely nothing improper in my business dealings."

Mr Robinson, whose book, The Unconventional Minister, rekindled the dispute over his home loan to Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (which led to them both resigning from the Government), received the news from police yesterday morning.

Friends of Mr Robinson, MP for Coventry North West, may hope the news could clear the way for him to re-enter theGovernment.

But such a move is unlikely after his book also renewed talk of a split at the heart of the Cabinet over the euro.

The grants referred to in the inquiry are believed to have totalled nearly £500,000, for machines at Transtec, or its plant in Coleshill, West Midlands. The claims were first aired in 1996, one year before Labour came to power.

Yesterday the shadow Trade and Industry Secretary, David Heathcoat-Amory, renewed his call for the findings of a DTI report on Mr Robinson's business activities to be published. "This investigation looked at just one part of the mystery and there remain more questions than answers about Geoffrey Robinson ... I have written to Stephen Byers [Secretary of State for Trade and Industry], asking that the inquiry report into the Maxwell company, Hollis Industries plc, which remains secret within the Department of Trade and Industry, is published. These matters may be an embarrassment to the Labour Party but are of legitimate public interest. Let's get this whole thing out in the open."