London:
An Indian-origin Tory fundraiser in Britain was allegedly caught in a sting operation claiming he could fix a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron for 10,000 pounds, besides providing his mobile phone number, a media report said.
Britain's 'The Mail on Sunday' newspaper has reported that 50-year-old Rickie Sehgal, the chairman of the British Asian Conservative Link, allegedly told one of its undercover scribes during a meeting that "those who pay 10,000 pounds a year get Cameron's mobile".
And, when asked if 10,000 pounds could also guarantee access to the Prime Minister, Sehgal responded: "One hundred per cent, Cameron... you name it," the newspaper said. The prominent Conservative Party activist also said that donors could dine with the PM -- or any other Ministers -- and raise any issue they wanted, including relaxing immigration curbs, the report claimed.
"I can facilitate a meeting with them for you to have a conversation about any issue that you want. What happens, how you two interact with that issue, is beyond my control," he allegedly told the undercover reporter.
Sehgal also claimed he could arrange for Tory MPs to make personal appearances in support of business ventures. However, when the newspaper confronted about his claims, Sehgal reportedly admitted that he was "highly embarrassed" to have been caught making his boasts, which he said he had exaggerated to impress the undercover reporter.
"I'm highly embarrassed. David Cameron and I don't really know each other. We meet politicians because we're a political organisation, to have lunches, dinner, things like that. In
that context, you would be able to meet.
"There are many other people that we know who would just like to part with money and go and talk to Cameron, and that does not exist in reality," he told the newspaper.