Sir Gulam Noon, Raj Loomba conferred peerages in UK

London: Indian - origin entrepreneurs Sir Gulam Noon and Raj Loomba were today conferred peerages of the UK for life, as the appointment of 53 new members to the House of Lords prompted criticism that several former party donors had been named.

While Mumbai-born Sir Gulam Noon, a leading entrepreneur popularly known as the 'Curry King', was nominated by the Labour Party, Loomba becomes a Peer on behalf of the Liberal Democrat party.

Sir Noon was appointed Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1994 and Knighted in 2002. A friend of former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, besides Prince Charles, Sir Noon was questioned under caution in connection with the cash-for-honours scandal after being nominated for a peerage by Blair.

Founder of the Noon Products and Noon Foundation, he has given over 700,000 pounds to Labour in 10 years and gave up his non-domicile tax status to be assistant treasurer of the Labour Party.

Loomba on the other hand is the founder chairman of the Loomba Trust, a charity for the welfare of children of widows in India.

"I am delighted. I am very proud of the fact that the Labour party has recommended my name for the Peerage and I will continue to work in the interests of the people of this country," Noon told PTI.

74-year-old Noon, a multi-millionaire businessman, has been nominated by key Labour leaders who believe he was unfairly treated during the 'cash for honours' scandal.Noon gave labour 205,000 pounds earlier this year for its general election campaign, taking it to 738,000 pounds the value of his total gifts to the party.

Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of packing the House of Lords with Tory donors, with Labour leader Ed Miliband claiming this was undemocratic.The PM has put forward 29 Tories for working peerages compared to 15 Liberal Democrats and 10 for Labour. This leaves the Conservatives with 193 peers, the Liberal Democrats with 79 and Labour with 234.

Noon was first proposed for a peerage by the then Prime Minister Blair, who said in his official citation that the India-born businessman "would be an active member of the Lords bringing wide-ranging business experience".