Australian police said that an e-mail challenging Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's honesty and leading to calls for his resignation appeared to be a forgery. Police searched the home of an Australian official on Monday while investigating the e-mail.

Detectives searched the Canberra home of Godwin Grech, a Treasury official who manages a fund established to help financially distressed car dealers.

In the biggest political crisis to hit Rudd's 19-month-old government, Grech claimed last week that the prime minister had contacted him on behalf of a car dealer friend, John Grant, who was seeking a government loan. Kevin Rudd and Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, have denied the accusation, saying there was no paperwork or other evidence to suggest the prime minister's office had been involved in the application.

(CCTV June 23, 2009)