RUTHLESS CRIME GANG 'GAVE CASH' TO LABOUR

LABOUR was looking into claims last night that it received donations from a
notorious crime gang. The Adams family from north London is said to have
boasted that members gave sums of between UKP2,000 and UKP3,000 before the
election.

The party is checking reports that the boasts were secretly recorded by
detectives in an undercover surveillance operation. If true, the payments
would prove embarrassing for the government.

Sean "Tommy" Adams, who was jailed last week for 7 1/2 years and ordered to
pay UKP1m from the profits of a drug deal, is alleged to have said that
several payments were made.

Adams, 41, was convicted of masterminding an UKP8m-a-year drug ring. He is
said to have boasted that the money was paid to Labour by two henchmen,
Michael Papamichael and Edward Wilkinson, both jailed for their part in the
drug operation.

A Labour spokesman said: "We have only just heard about this. We will have
to look at any evidence the police have. If there is any evidence that the
money we received was from an illegal source we will return it or pay it
over to the police."

Gifts to Labour of less than UKP,5000 do not have to be disclosed in the
party's annual report.

Adams owns a UKP450,000 home in Islington, north London, even though he has
had no tax or employment records since leaving school.

Detectives believe the gang has used its muscle to influence lawyers and
politicians. Adams and other family members were known as the "A-Team" and
"the Firm" because of their ruthless domination of north London's seedy
clubs and pubs.

* The row over the Labour leadership's attempts to prevent a left-wing
victory in this year's election to the party's national executive committee
intensified last night with the allegation that more than a quarter of the
ballot papers have gone to people ineligible to vote.

Of the 385,000 postal ballot papers sent out, it was claimed that 100,000
went to people whose party subscriptions were more than six months in
arrears. Yet a rule change last year should have stripped these people of
"any rights to participate in party decision-making".

Tom Sawyer, Labour's general secretary, denied any problem, and said he had
taken legal advice over who was allowed to vote. "I am satisfied that
ballot papers for the NEC elections have been sent to party members who are
eligible to vote and only to those eligible to vote," he said.

The ban on those in arrears was "only ever intended to apply to selections
of parliamentary, European, Scotland parliament and Welsh assembly
candidates".

Checked-by: Pat Dolan