LONDON - Mr Jonathan Aitken told the High Court in London yesterday he believed that he may have been the victim of a set-up over his controversial stay at the Paris Ritz.' The former cabinet minister denies attending a private business meeting with prominent Arabs, who paid his bill, at the hotel in September 1993. He said there was a "small mystery" that the hotel had not produced the registration document which he believed as required by French law he signed when he checked in. They have produced this form which was not seen by, or filled in by, or signed by me. I've asked myself many times over the years whether I've been the victim of a set-up or cock-up in this saga.
Mr Aitken is suing the Guardian and Granada TV for libel over claims that he was in the pocket of the Saudis.