'No evidence against Briton'

'No evidence against Briton'

MANILA (Reuter): Philippines investigators said yesterday they
had no evidence against a British tour operator accused in a
British television report of supplying Filipino children for sex
with paedophiles.

Mamerto Espartero of the National Bureau of Investigation
(NBI) said Michael Clarke was invited to headquarters to clarify
reports about foreign paedophiles supposedly enjoying NBI
protection.

"We don't have any evidence against him and we cannot charge
him criminally," Espartero told reporters.

Clarke said a recent British television news program linking
him to child sex tours had been "doctored". "I deny all
allegations made against me," Clarke, 48, of Eastbourne in
Sussex, said in a statement. "I swear to God and on my only
daughter's life that I am telling the truth.".

There are an estimated 85,000 street children and 20,000 child
prostitutes in the Philippines, most of them in Manila, according
to government studies.