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Anschutzs Football Ticket Gift to Prescott
John Prescott is being placed under fresh scrutiny after the revelation that he accepted free football game tickets in Los Angeles from casino Tycoon Philip Anschutz.
Anschutz is bidding for the Millennium Dome to be transformed into Britain's first super casino. The Dome in London is likewise owned by him.
Commons standards watchdog Sir Philip Mawer has launched a full Parliamentary investigation on the relationship between the Deputy Prime Minister and Anschutz. The issue of the football tickets is made doubly controversial as it follows hot on the heels of another gift issue, the elaborate cowboy outfit that Prescott received from the billionaire.
The free football tickets are feared to be potentially embarrassing because it piles up on the extent of undeclared hospitality that the Deputy Prime Minister has enjoyed. The football match took place in July 2004, while Prescott was on a visit to the Los Angeles-based and Anschutz-owned Home Depot Center.
Prescott is already being investigated for allegedly breaking ministerial codes that dictate that ministers are forbidden to accept gifts and hospitality that might put them in a compromising position to the giver.
Mawer will include in his investigations whether Prescott paid any taxes on the gifts he received with regards to the Dome.