24 peers, including the creator of ‘Downton Abbey,’ are under investigation for potential failure to declare financial interests

• 24 peers are under investigation by the House of Lords Standards Commissioners.
• The probe follows a news report saying 42 peers apparently failed to declare financial interests.
• Peers who are company directors are supposed to provide details about the company if not obvious from the name.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Twenty-four members of the House of Lords are under investigation for potential failures to declare their financial interests properly, the House of Lords Standards Commissioners announced Monday.

Among those peers are Lord Julian Fellowes, the creator of "Downton Abbey"; Lord Anthony Bamford, a prominent Conservative party donor; and Lord Alan Sugar, star of the UK's version of "The Apprentice."

The probe follows an investigation by openDemocracy into apparent failings by 42 peers in providing sufficient detail in their declaration of interests, and potentially being in breach of transparency rules.

House of Lords rules say that if a member is a company director, they should provide detail as to what the company does if it is not obvious from its name.

If any of the peers are found to be in breach of the rules, they may face the requirement to take remedial action by rectifying their entries in the register of interests and having to write an apology to the chair of the Conduct Committee.

Twenty of the 24 peers did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Lord Nat Wei told Insider the error was an administrative one.

"I believe the omission of information on my register of interests was an administrative oversight on my part and having apologised for this to the Standards Commissioner my register of interests has now been updated in line with the revised code of conduct," he said.

Lord Nigel Crisp said he was "not allowed to comment."

Representatives for Lord Kestenbaum and Lord Wolfson of Apsley Guise declined to comment.

The full list of peers is:

1. Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean
2. Lord Bamford
3. Lord Bilimoria
4. Lord Borwick
5. Lord Carter of Coles
6. Lord Crisp
7. Lord Curry of Kirkharle
8. Lord Fellowes of West Stafford
9. Lord Hameed
10. Lord Kestenbaum
11. Lord Kirkham
12. Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate
13. Lord Levene of Portsoken
14. Lord Northbrook
15. Lord Powell of Bayswater
16. Lord Redesdale
17. Lord Selkirk of Douglas
18. Lord St John of Bletso
19. Lord Sugar
20. Lord Wei
21. Lord Whitby
22. Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise
23. The Duke of Wellington
24. The Earl of Liverpool