HARLOW: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacts as he talks with staff during his visit to The Princess Alexandra hospital in Harlow, north of London. _ AFP

LONDON: The
government of London said it had referred Prime Minister Boris Johnson to
Britain's police watchdog for potential investigation over allegations of
misconduct involving a US businesswoman while he was mayor of London. The
Greater London Authority (GLA) said on Friday it had referred a "conduct
matter" concerning Johnson to the Independent Office for Police Conduct
(IOPC), which investigates complaints connected to the police.

The referral
follows allegations, first reported by The Sunday Times, that when Johnson was
mayor, he failed to declare close personal links to tech entrepreneur Jennifer
Arcuri who received thousands of pounds in public business funding and places
on official trade trips. Asked about the referral, Johnson's spokesman said:
"The prime minister as mayor of London did a huge amount of work when
selling our capital city around the world, beating the drum for London and the
UK.

"Everything
was done with propriety and in the normal way," he added. Arcuri did not
immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The matter has been
referred to the police watchdog because Johnson was head of the Mayor's Office
for Policing and Crime, a role equivalent to a police commissioner, during his
2008-2016 term as mayor.

Under the
referral, the authority will try to determine whether there are grounds for a
full investigation that could lead to criminal charges of misconduct in public
office. The GLA said in a statement: "The Monitoring Officer of the GLA
has today recorded a 'conduct matter' against Boris Johnson and referred him to
the Independent Office for Police Conduct so it can assess whether or not it is
necessary to investigate the former Mayor of London for the criminal offence of
misconduct in public office."

It said the
action had been taken in accordance with the Police Reform and Social
Responsibility Act 2011. In a letter to Johnson, the GLA said: "Subject to
any explanation provided by you, these matters give rise to a suggestion that
there has been a failure to safeguard the public purse and if so that amounts
to a significant breach of public trust. "These are the ingredients of the
offence of misconduct in a public office," said the letter from the office
of the authority's monitoring officer, which was made public.

The letter said
Innotech, Arcuri's then company, received 11,500 pounds ($14,000) from London
& Partners, the mayor's promotional agency, for two events in 2013 and
2014. She was able to attend a trade mission to Singapore and Malaysia in 2014
through Playbox, one of her companies, even though an initial application
through Innotech had been declined.

The letter said
the Monitoring Officer was also aware "from media reports and
elsewhere" that Arcuri also had been allowed to participate in events
around two other trade missions - to New York and Israel in 2015 - although she
had not qualified for the New York mission and had been rejected for the
mission to Israel. Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the European Union
by Oct 31. British opposition parties are discussing tabling a vote of
no-confidence in Johnson as early as next week over his handling of Brexit, the
Telegraph newspaper reported on Friday. - Reuters