Ministers face Libya sanctions quiz

Questions will be asked in Parliament this week over the collapse of a court case which suggested the Government was allowing sanctions- busting exports to Libya in an echo of the Matrix Churchill affair.

The case at St Albans Crown Court against two businessmen charged with shipping tank parts to Col Gaddafi's army fell apart in January when the Department of Trade and Industry suddenly produced classified documents. The content of the papers is unclear, but they would appear to indicate that Peter Rotheroe and Glynne Rees, who were executives of Watford-based Unipower, had been given permission by the DTI to export the goods - despite an international arms embargo on Libya.