British spy agencies agreed to pay Guantanamo Bay detainees millions

British spy agencies likely agreed to pay former detainees at Guantanamo Bay millions of dollars from their own budget, new accounts show.

Details of the payments by M15 and M15 are revealed in the accounts for the security and intelligence agencies, published this week.

They show that the agencies spent £13.7 million ($U.S. 22.4 million) on “losses and special payments” in the 12 months to the end of March this year and about $19.6 million of this is estimated to have gone to legal claims by former detainees.

The Telegraph reports:

A note to the accounts says the sum was swelled by “an SIA [Security and Intelligence Agencies] contribution to a payment in respect of legal claims in excess of £250k”.

The actual figure paid to the Britons is not given, because of a confidentiality agreement with the lawyers of the former terrorist suspects.

It is thought that around £12 million (U.S. $19.6 million)  is likely to have been paid to the Guantánamo Bay suspects.

This is because the agencies have, on average, spent £1.5 million a year on losses and special payments over the past five years. The total compensation figure paid to 16 Britons, who were suing the government, is likely to be about £14 million, and will have been swelled by payments from other departments.

The former detainees have denied wrongdoing.

The men had claimed that the government had allowed them to be sent to be mistreated at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay.

The government has said it cannot reveal the details of any legal settlements with former detainees.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “For legal reasons we cannot comment on the details of any settlement the Government came to with former Guantánamo detainees.’’

The legal settlement was first announced by Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary, to the House of Commons last November.

The payouts also were made to another four men who were not involved in the court cases but could have sued, the Telegraph says.

Meanwhile, lawyers for the men detained at Guantanamo Bay said they would not co-operate with an inquiry into Britain's conduct as it pursued terrorism suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. unless they were able to question spies and other witnesses, Associated Press reports.

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered a sweeping investigation into allegations that British officials may have colluded in the mistreatment of detainees held overseas.

However, most intelligence officials are expected to appear in private and the government would have the final say on making sensitive documents public.

In a joint letter of objection sent to the inquiry's legal chief, lawyers said the rules meant former detainees and their legal representatives would not have the chance to question spies or government ministers.