It comes after the LibDems called for the former Conservative leader to be stripped of an allowance provided to former prime ministers following the allegations
The Guardian published a series based on leaked data provided by a non-profit organisation that suggests Johnson profited from contacts and influence he gained in office.
Johnson is alleged to have lobbied a senior Saudi official he met while in office to share a pitch with crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and to have been paid more than £200,000 after meeting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
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Johnson has access to a £115,000 annual allowance, funded by taxpayers.
Current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has defended Johnson following the revelations.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which is due to be scrapped due to its ineffectiveness, deals with applications from former ministers and civil servants on new employment roles after leaving government. It has confirmed that it is investigating the allegations made against Johnson.
In August, it signed off on former defence secretary Grant Shapps taking on a role at a missile start up – as long as he promised not to work on defence matters.
A spokesperson for Acoba said: “We are currently looking at the information reported in the Guardian.
“Where there is evidence of further non-compliance, we will investigate.”
The LibDems have called for Johnson to be stripped of his access to taxpayer funds and said that a full investigation should be launched.
MP Sarah Olney, the party’s Cabinet Office spokesperson, said: “These allegations are extremely shocking.
“This is yet another reminder of how deep the rot in the Conservative Party goes — it is riddled by sleaze and scandal.
“The Government must suspend Boris Johnson’s access to the former prime minister public duty cost allowance pending a full and proper investigation.”
Elsewhere, Badenoch defended Boris Johnson over the allegations.
In an interview with GB News, the Conservative leader said: “I think that people should be able to earn money when they leave politics.
“And no one has seen, apart from The Guardian, what these allegations are. I think that The Guardian is distracting from what Labour are doing, which is making a mess of our economy.”
The files also raise questions about whether the company he set up after leaving Downing Street, the Office of Boris Johnson, blurred the lines of how his ex-prime minister’s allowance was used.
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It is not supposed to be for private or commercial activities.
The files were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS), a US-registered non-profit that archives leaked and hacked documents.
They mostly concern the period of time after Johnson’s term as prime minister, from September 2022 and July 2024, along with some documents from when he was in No 10.
The Public Duty Costs Allowance is to help with the costs incurred by former prime ministers who are still active in public life.
It affords former prime ministers up to £115,000 a year to cover office and secretarial costs arising from public duties.
