Linklaters defiant over Mittalgate

City firm Linklaters & Alliance hit back after it was caught in the middle of a political mud-slinging match last week when media reports attempted to link a Romanian paralegal at the firm with the so-called 'Mittalgate' affair.The scandal, which dogged the government last week, centred on the reasons why Prime Minister Tony Blair personally lobbied the Romanian government last year to secure the valuable privatisation contract of Romanian steel company Sidex for LNM, a UK-based but Caribbean-registered company.Jemma Marlor, a 26-year-old paralegal working in the Romanian capital Bucharest with Linklaters, is the girlfriend of the UK's Romanian ambassador Richard Ralph, who supposedly prompted Mr Blair's intervention.

Media reports attempted to connect the fact that Linklaters acted on behalf of the Romanian government in the Sidex deal with Ms Marlor's connection to the ambassador.But Linklaters hit back at the suggestions with a statement claiming that it had been retained by the Romanian government to act on the Sidex deal in the summer of 2000.The statement said Ms Marlor joined the firm in September 2001 - after leaving the Bucharest office of City firm Taylor Joynson Garrett, which was closing - just two months before the deal was finally closed.The statement continued: 'Jemma Marlor was not involved in any way in the Sidex privatisation.

Linklaters was never contacted by the UK embassy in Bucharest in connection with the transaction and worked exclusively for the Romanian government.'A spokeswoman at the firm denied categorically that there had been any inappropriate behaviour.

She would not confirm whether Ms Marlor had attended the ceremony at which the deal was closed in Bucharest, saying that was 'a private matter for Ms Marlor'.Jeremy Fleming