Paisley’s Post-Brexit trade talks irk SL (Tamil) diaspora

A British MP from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), one of ten that is keeping Prime Minister Theresa May’s Government in power, is at the centre of a controversy once again over old accusations that he accepted holidays in Sri Lanka in 2013.

Mr Paisley with Sri Lanka High Commissioner Amari Wijewardene in Westminster after discussing a post-Brexit trade with Sri Lanka

The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that he accepted holidays worth £100,000 “from a country he is now helping to secure a post-Brexit trade deal.” However, Ian Paisley Jr. denied the accusations and declared that he would go before the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to state his case.

He has also charged that the newspaper’s account was defamatory. According to the Daily Telegraph report on Thursday, “Ian Paisley Jr, one of the Democratic Unionist Party’s most prominent MPs, accepted two all-expenses-paid trips from the Sri Lankan government .”

The Daily Telegraph report states that Mr Paisley took his wife and four children to Sri Lanka and flew business class, stayed in the “finest hotels” and were provided with a chauffeur-driven Mercedes, all paid for by the Sri Lankan government.

During discussions with officials, he offered to help the state broker an oil deal, saying he had “significant arrangements with national oil suppliers” in Oman and Nigeria.

“The trips, which were never disclosed in the Commons register of interests, will raise serious questions about the influence and interests of the MP, who is one of 10 DUP members relied upon by Theresa May to ensure her government can continue to function after her snap election. The Register of Members’ Financial Interests exists so that MPs can declare income, gifts or affiliations that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest with their parliamentary roles.

“Not to shy away from the accusations, this week Mr Paisley posted a picture of himself alongside Amari Wijewardene, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner, outside the Houses of Parliament captioned: “With Sri Lanka high commissioner to discuss NI-Sri Lanka trade deal after Brexit.”

Two days after the meeting in Parliament, Mr Paisley posted a picture of himself alongside Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary responsible for negotiating post-Brexit trade deals. It was captioned: “With Liam Fox discussing our trade agreements post Brexit.”

The Sri Lankan High Commission in London said yesterday that Mr Paisley was considered to be in a particularly good position to help “enhance trade relations between Sri Lanka and the UK” given the DUP’s role supporting Ms May’s Government.

Dr. Fox was at the centre of a controversy as Defence Secretary and resigned from his post during the premiership of David Cameron for allowing his former flat-mate and best-man at his wedding accompany him on 18 foreign trips and distribute visiting cards without any official position. However Mr. Fox was credited for doing an “outstanding job” as Defence Secretary.

A friend of Sri Lanka, Dr. Fox once brokered an agreement between the then President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. At that time he was Deputy Foreign Secretary of Britain and the agreement was meant to ensure a common strategy towards a political solution to end Sri Lanka’s then northern insurgency.
However, the Sri Lanka (Tamil) diaspora was to take credit for the downfall of Dr. Fox and is seen behind the recent moves to discredit Mr. Paisley.

“They are still trying to destabilise Sri Lanka from here”, said a British citizen of Sri Lankan origin referring to the Sri Lankan (Tamil) diaspora. “They don’t want anything good to happen to Sri Lanka – and they are a tinge jealous, maybe, that the Sri Lankan government succeeded in lobbying a British MP, something they thought is their monopoly”.
Not to be outdone, the Sri Lankan (Tamil) diaspora-US branch has also been at work, this time with the Jagath Jayasuriya saga. Having successfully triggered a molehill of a story into a mountain courtesy former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, they had their ‘agents’ at the UN press Corp ask a question about Jagath Jayasuriya, one-time UN official and currently Constitutional Council member Radhika Coomaraswamy and the SL Army serving in the UN Peace Keeping Forces.

This is basically how the Q and A went at the UN press briefing this week;
Question: And on Sri Lanka, again, maybe you may have been overwhelmed by the question, but there’s a former general, Jagath, who’s being charged with war crimes. He fled back to Sri Lanka from Brazil. Since he got back to Sri Lanka, he said that then-UN official Radhika Coomaraswamy told… quote, “told me that there is nothing against you in terms of war crimes.” So I understand that she’s no longer a UN official, but given that he is explicitly saying that she said it as a UN official, does the UN have anything to… is it… was the case that…

Spokesman: Well, I mean, it’s not… I don’t know anything about the veracity of the quote, but it’s… these sorts of charges are put forward by judicial bodies.

Question: And does that charge have any impact on the continued use and deployment of Sri Lankan…?
Spokesman: I think as we said, all Sri Lanka troops go through unit vetting and individual vetting.

Read more Cafe Spectator Stories