Reinaldo Avila da Silva was seen leaving the couple’s £12million Regent’s Park home in London this morning before getting into a black cab and driving away – but there was no sign of Mandelson
Peter Mandelson’s husband has been since for the first time since the disgraced politician’s arrest.
Reinaldo Avila da Silva left the couple’s £12million home just before 10.30am this morning before getting into the back of a black cab. He was driven away from the property, near London’s Regent’s Park.
But there was no sign of Mandelson, who has not been seen since returning home at around 2am on Tuesday morning following his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Reinaldo lives with Mandelson and their dog Jock inside the lavish property. Reinaldo was named in the latest tranche of the Epstein files, which have led to Mandelson’s arrest.
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Following the release of the Epstein files, Mandelson said he had “no recollection” of receiving payments totalling $75,000 dollars (about £55,600) from Epstein between 2003 and 2004 as bank details in the documents indicated. Epstein is also said to have paid for an osteopathy course for Mandelson’s husband Reinaldo Avila Da Silva in 2009, at a time when the UK government was dealing with the financial crisis.
Mandelson was arrested at the five-storey townhouse on Monday, just over two weeks after plain-clothed officers raided it and another property in Wiltshire. The veteran politician yesterday claimed they made the decision to take him into custody after “baseless” claims he was planning to flee the country.
His lawyers said he had agreed to attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis, but the Metropolitan Police hauled him in over fears he was a flight risk. Lord Mandelson has reportedly told friends since his arrest that it was a “complete fiction” that he was planning to escape to the British Virgin Islands.
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, the law firm Mishcon de Reya said: “Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday despite an agreement with the police that he would attend an interview next month on a voluntary basis. The arrest was prompted by a baseless suggestion that he was planning to leave the country and take up permanent residence abroad.
“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in any such suggestion. We have asked the MPS for the evidence relied upon to justify the arrest. Peter Mandelson’s overriding priority is to cooperate with the police investigation, as he has done throughout this process, and to clear his name.”
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment. In a statement, the force said: “A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released on bail pending further investigation. He was arrested at an address in Camden on Monday, 23 February and was taken to a London police station for interview. This follows search warrants at two addresses in the Wiltshire and Camden areas. We are not able to provide further information at this stage to prevent prejudicing the integrity of the investigation.”
According to The Times, Lord Mandelson told friends shortly after his release: “Despite a previous agreement between police and legal team over a voluntary interview in early March, police arrested me because they claimed … that I was about to flee to the British Virgin Islands and take up permanent residence abroad, leaving Reinaldo, my family, home and [his dog] Jock behind me. I need hardly say complete fiction. The police were told only today that they had to improvise an arrest. The question is, who or what is behind this?”
Reinaldo was paid $4,000 (£2,900) a month by Jeffrey Epstein through a standing order set up while the peer was deputy prime minister, according to the Epstein fles. Three payments, totalling $12,000 (£8,900), went into ReinaldoAvila da Silva’s account in April, May and June 2010. It is unclear if other payments were made, or what the money was used for.
Other files released last Friday show Epstein also sent £10,000 to Mr da Silva in September 2009 after he asked for money to fund an osteopathy course. The General Osteopathic Council insisted Mr Da Silva never graduated from an osteopathy course in the UK.
New files show that the payments to Mr da Silva’s Barclays Bank account, held in London, were made through a series of bank transfers from Epstein’s private account with JP Morgan. In an email sent to Epstein on Sept 7, 2009, Mr da Silva wrote: “I sent you a couple of emails last week regarding my osteo course expenses, incl fee, anatomical models, lap top if you can help me with this. I hope you received them. I just managed to speak to the fees ofce at the osteo school and confrmed that my annual fee is of £3,225.”
Mr da Silva included his bank details. Epstein replied: “I will wire your loan amount immediately.” Shortly afterwards, Mr da Silva replied: “Thanks very much!” The email correspondence was then forwarded to Lord Mandelson by Epstein.
A few days later, Mr da Silva sent Epstein an email saying “thank you for the money which arrived in my account this morning”. At the time of the frst payment, Lord Mandelson was serving as business secretary in Mr Brown’s government and was the de facto deputy prime minister.
According to the files, in April 2010, Mr da Silva messaged Epstein again, and once more shared his bank details. Epstein then forwarded the email to his accountant, adding: “send 13k dollars”. In subsequent correspondence, Epstein instructed his accountant to “send 2k per month to reinaldo”.
His accountant, Rich Kahn, asked if this was “in addition to the 13k” and to confirm that the currency was US dollars. Epstein replied that he had had a rethink and added: “send 4000 dollars only”.At the time, Mr da Silva was Lord Mandelson’s long-term long-term delson’s partner. The couple married in 2023. A payment of $4,000 (£2,900) was made on April 5 2010, a month before the general election. The next payment of $4,000 was made on May 11, the day on which Mr Brown quit as prime minister after Labour failed to agree a power-sharing deal with the Liberal Democrats.
A third payment of $4,000 to Mr da Silva was made on June 24. The evidence is contained in a wire transfer receipt signed ofby Epstein. The payments raise further questions about the relationship between Lord Mandelson and Epstein. Epstein had already served time over soliciting a minor for prostitution when payments were made to Mr da Silva.
