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Swraj Paul seeks public probe into Lords’ expenses

London, November 14
Hurt at being “unjustly and unfairly targeted” by a ‘kangaroo court’, Lord Swraj Paul today demanded a public inquiry into expenses of members of the House of Lords which has suspended him over his allowances claims.

Paul, who has resigned as the deputy speaker because “my faith in the House and in British justice has been shattered,” said he would continue to speak out against the abuse of power and fight for a democratic House of Lords which functions transparently.

The NRI industrialist was recently suspended from the House for four months for allegedly being negligent in his claims for overnight allowances that, he said, had been made according to rules in place in 2005-06.

Calling the punishment meted out to him as unjust and unfair, Paul demanded a public inquiry into “practices of expenses” of members of the House during the past decade and also why he had been singled out for “harsh” treatment.

“I will certainly speak out against the way I have been treated. What kind of justice is it when other peers have been treated by a different set of standards? Even the Metropolitan Police cleared me of any wrongdoing. The battle is not over; I am not a quitter,” he said. It was unheard of in British parliamentary history that a member had been suspended not for dishonesty, but for negligence, he said.

Two members of the five-member sub-committee that went into his case were ‘openly hostile’ to him. The chairperson of the sub-committee had publicly acknowledged that she had threatened to resign if their report was not accepted by the Privileges Committee, he said. — PTI