LONDON - British tycoon Richard Branson pledged US$200,000 Sunday to help the parents of missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann clear their name.
A spokeswoman says the Virgin chairman has also contacted several other wealthy Britons to encourage them to contribute to a legal defence fund for Kate and Gerry McCann.
The couple, both doctors, have been the focus of intense speculation over whether they played a role in the disappearance of their daughter from a holiday apartment in southern Portugal on May 3 after police there named them as formal suspects.
Branson had already contributed US$2 million to a fund set up to help find Madeleine.
A Portuguese judge began examining the Portuguese police file on Madeleine's disappearance Wednesday and is expected to announce a decision next week on what further steps are required to determine what happened to her.
Forensic tests conducted at a government lab in Britain found evidence indicating DNA from Madeleine was in the trunk of a car the parents used in Portugal's Algarve region after her disappearance. However, Portugal's national police chief said Monday that the forensic tests on the car were not conclusive and that he expected the investigation to continue.
