New Delhi, Feb. 5 -- British police on Tuesday opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The U.K. government says newly released Epstein files suggest Mandelson - a former Cabinet minister, ambassador and elder statesman of the governing Labour Party - may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender a decade and a half ago.

London's Metropolitan Police force said detectives had reviewed reports of misconduct and decided they met the threshold for a full investigation.

Commander Ella Marriott said the force "has now launched an investigation into a 72-year-old man, a former ...