as a key figure in arranging the loans and on 17 March 2006 it was announced that the Public Administration Select Committee of the House of Commons had invited him to give evidence on political financing. Committee chairman Tony Wright said: "With continuing speculation about whether the system of scrutiny is sufficiently robust and as part of our wider inquiry into current standards of probity in public life, we will be hearing from those charged with scrutinising nominations to ensure that there are robust safeguards against honours for sale." Another issue was repayment: the Labour Party owed about £14 m before the election. The interest on the loans amounted to £900,000 a year and some of the loans had to be repaid within months, either through further borrowing or gifts. In these circumstances, one unanswered question concerned why Lord Levy asked for loans rather than gifts. It was disclosed on 25 March 2006 that the only persons privy to details of the loans were Tony Blair, Lord Levy and Matt Carter. On 25 March 2006 it was revealed that Scotland Yard had requested that parliament halt the Public Administration Select Committee hearing with four of the peerage nominees, Sir David Garrard, Sir Gulam Noon, and Chai Patel, Barry Townsley as it could prejudice the criminal investigation. The assistant commissioner, John Yates asked for the parliamentary investigation to be postponed. The Guardian revealed that many of the people who had made loans to the Labour Party had been major donors to charities with which Lord Levy had been involved, namely, the Community Service Volunteers, Jewish Care and the NSPCC. Sir David Garrard, Andrew Rosenfeld, and Barry Townsley are patrons of Jewish Care; Richard Caring, proprietor of the Ivy in London, had raised £10 m for the NSPCC, and Sir David Garrard, Dr. Chai Patel, Andrew Rosenfeld, Richard Caring, and Derek Tullett are all connected to the Community Service Volunteers. In July 2006 it was reported that Lord Levy had allegedly told Sir Gulam Noon, a businessman nominated for a peerage, that he need not tell the Lords vetting committee about a loan to the Labour party. On 20 April 2005 Noon had agreed to lend Labour £250,000 on commercial terms, which he did on 28 April. Noon had originally offered to make a donation of between £50,000 and £75,000 but Levy wanted £1 m. They then negotiated a loan. A letter