- The shadow chairman and founder of the LTTE front All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils in the House of Parliament in the United Kingdom has been accused of code breach in a court case.
(October 03, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) ‘The Guardian’ political correspondent Allegra Stratton unravelled the allegation that the parliamentarian breached the code of conduct for receipt of kick backs (hospitalities) in a corruption case involving an Iranian. According to ‘The Guardian’ news:
‘Former minister Keith Vaz is to face an official inquiry into allegations that he tried to interfere in a court case and breached the MPs' code of conduct.
‘Vaz is alleged to have written to the high court asking it to delay proceedings in a case involving solicitor Sharokh Mireskandari, who was challenging an order to pay £400,000 to the liquidator of an airline. The MP for Leicester East is said to have asked for the case to be suspended pending the outcome of a complaint about how it had been previously handled, but in doing so allegedly failed to declare that Mireskandari was a friend from whom he and his family had received hospitality.
‘The Iranian-born Mireskandari has been involved in high-profile discrimination cases against the Metropolitan police, representing Commander Ali Dizaei against charges of corruption, and Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur in his race claim against the Met.
‘Vaz, who is chair of the home affairs select committee, referred the case to the parliamentary standards watchdog himself last month. But it was the receipt yesterday of a complaint from a third party that prompted the standards commissioner to start an inquiry.
‘If evidence of wrongdoing is found, Vaz would be required to apologise to the Commons and could be suspended as an MP. Members of the home affairs select committee have privately called on Vaz to step down until he has cleared his name.
‘In a statement, the commissioner's office said it was investigating whether Vaz had breached the code of conduct for MPs and its associated rules. It also explained the time delay in starting inquiry proceedings. It said: "The commissioner has decided to initiate an inquiry on the basis of the complaint he has received. As a result, it is not necessary for him to consider further whether to seek the authorisation of the committee on standards and privileges exceptionally to undertake an inquiry on the basis of Vaz's own referral of these allegations to him."
‘Vaz has been accused of interfering on behalf of Mireskandari before, writing to the Solicitors Regulation Authority outlining allegations of discrimination and prejudice he had received from a "Dr S Mireskandari".
‘Vaz has also been criticised for breaking parliamentary rules. He was suspended from the Commons for a month in 2002 after the standards and privileges committee found that he had made false allegations against Eileen Eggington, a former Metropolitian police superintendent.
‘A spokeswoman for Vaz said: "Mr Vaz is very pleased that these matters will now be investigated.
"He will now leave this up to the commissioner."’ - Sri Lanka Guardian
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