Lord Lamont may be included in High Court case over Iraq deal

Lord Lamont, the former Conservative chancellor, could be among several City grandees to be called as a witness in a High Court case over a disputed Iraq deal.

Lord Palumbo, Baroness Symons and former Barclays chairman Andrew Buxton may also be called over a suit regarding a London private equity company they advised called MerchantBridge, set up to invest in post-Saddam Iraq. They are not accused of any wrongdoing.

MerchantBridge was formed by London banker Colin Craig, who died in a car crash in 2005 in Morocco, and Iraqi businessman Basil Al Rahim to invest in the US private equity firm, Carlyle Group. Rahim was killed in a plane crash three years ago.

Former MerchantBridge director Samir Arab claims Rahim defrauded him out of $31 million (£18.2 million) in the value of his shares in one of the firm’s biggest investments — Iraqi telecoms company Asiacell.

He claims Rahim diverted much of MerchantBridge’s stake to himself. Arab is suing Rahim’s estate and MerchantBridge and sources close to the case said they may call MerchantBridge’s advisers to testify.

The estate’s lawyers Allen & Overy said of the claims: “We reject them and will be defending the claims.”