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Special to the tribune Swraj Paul faces suspension from House of Lords Two other South Asian-born peers also likely to be suspended Shyam Bhatia in London
Lord Swraj Paul, the Jalandhar-born millionaire and member of Britain’s House of Lords, is facing continuing public disgrace and likely suspension from the UK’s Upper House of Parliament, despite repaying £40,000 worth of accommodation expenses he should never have claimed. He is one of the three South Asian-born peers who are expected to be fined and suspended this coming week. The others are Baroness Uddin from Bangladesh and Tanzania-born Lord Amir Bhatia. They feature on the front pages of British newspapers which report that the House of Lords standards and privileges committee is expected to recommend “tough sanctions” against all three for abusing their expenses. Lord Paul is expected to be suspended for four to six months, Lord Bhatia for six to 12 months and Baroness Uddin for 12 months to 18 months. Each of them will be expected to repay money -- in Paul’s case this has already happened. In Baroness Uddin’s case, a massive £125,000 (nearly Rs 1 crore) has to be repaid. In her case, there has also been a demand to have her subjected to a criminal investigation. Beyond the fines and suspensions lies the issue of public disgrace resulting from the abuse of taxpayers’ money. Like members of India’s Rajya Sabha, British peers are expected to be leaders of public opinion, and are required to set high standards of probity and personal behaviour. These standards are sometimes broken, as was the case with Lord Archer (writer Jeffrey Archer), who was convicted of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 1987. He was sentenced to four years of
imprisonment. Like Paul, Archer also served as a Deputy Speaker in the House of Lords. Among the reasons why Paul continues to attract so much attention is his enormous personal wealth (estimated at £550 million), close involvement with issues affecting bilateral relations between the UK and India — as well as his reputation as a one-time confidant of
Indira Gandhi. Lady Paul has been famously quoted as saying that Mrs Gandhi would “run down the steps” of her aircraft to greet the Pauls every time she visited London. Relations with the Gandhi family soured however when Rajiv became Prime Minister. He and Paul were barely on speaking terms. Until earlier this month, Paul continued to insist that he was entitled to claim a generous housing allowance that was available to those peers who lived outside London. Paul has several properties inside London city centre, but he wrongfully claimed that his main residence was a remote flat where he had never lived. Commenting on the housing allowance he should never have claimed, Paul said earlier this month, “They can increase it, reduce it, simplify it and in the end as you see I follow the rules, I follow the law.”
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