All three donations were accepted on the same date, April 1, 2005.  Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP for Lancaster and Wyre, which borders Mr Straw's constituency, has now written to the Electoral Commission demanding an investigation into the donation from WIC.  He described the donation as "a worrying development" and called on Mr Straw to be "fully transparent" about his links with the company.  Siraj Karbhari, the man listed by Mr Straw as the proprietor of WIC, is a former Labour councillor in Blackburn who has known Mr Straw for at least 10 years and who now describes himself as a property developer. According to one report, another of his companies has been granted planning permission for building projects in Blackburn.  Mr Karbhari, 49, set up WIC with his brother Yusuf and a third man, Fahad Alsekait, who lives in Riyadh. A Saudi property company, Emar Al-Bayadir for Development & Trading Ltd, was also listed as a partner in the firm, which was wound up in 2006.  WIC's website boasted an impressive list of clients, ranging from Barclays Bank, the BBC, Imperial College and Tesco.  But Companies House records show that the company never traded, and paid out just £10,167 in wages in 2006. Calls to its "clients" including Imperial College, London and Kent County Council revealed that they had never heard of the firm.  WIC's office address on Mr Straw's electoral return was listed as 3rd floor, 10-11 Austin Friars, a smart Georgian office building in the City of London. The address is the same as that given by Siraj Karbhari for another firm, European Real Estate Investments, of which he is "senior partner and chief executive officer", according to its website.  However, a spokesman for a legal firm which rents the entire 3rd floor of the building said they had never heard of either European Real Estate or WIC.  Dr Yusuf Karbhari, a reader in accounting at Cardiff Business School, confirmed yesterday that WIC had never traded in the UK.  He said: "It didn't carry out any business in the UK. It was doing a few things outside... mainly, it was in Saudi Arabia."  Electoral Commission rules specify that permissible donors include: "A UK registered company which is incorporated within the EU and carries on business in the UK."  Siraj Karbhari, speaking from Saudi Arabia, said he had made the donation as individual and listing it as a company donation had been "a mistake".  He said: "I am a UK citizen and this was not a foreign donation. I made a cheque from one of my companies. I can't recollect which chequebook I used. If they have listed a donation from Westminster, that is a mistake."  A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: "We have received a complaint and we are reviewing it in line with our usual practises."  Mr Straw has already been criticised for failing to register a £3,000 donation from a Texan energy firm, Canatxx, which wants to build a gas storage plant in the Wyre estuary, near his constituency.  A spokesman for Mr Straw said: "Mr Straw and his constituency party will co-operate fully with any request for information from the Electoral Commission."
Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, is facing an inquiry over an allegedly illegal donation to his campaign fund from a company backed by Saudi property developers.