Paisley Jnr cleared of wrongdoing in property deal

Ian Paisley Jnr has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a property deal with a developer in the North.

The Democratic Unionist Assembly member was accused of paying a lower price for a Co Antrim holiday home bought from businessman Seymour Sweeney and failing to disclose the “partial gift”.

The complaint by hardline unionist Lyle Cubitt was dismissed by the Northern Assembly’s Standards and Privileges Committee.

It said: “Having gathered the further information and evaluated the complaint, the Interim Commissioner (Tom Frawley) concluded that on the basis of the information available to him Mr Paisley Jnr did not have a registrable interest in respect of the purchase of this property.

“The committee agrees with this conclusion and the complaint is therefore not upheld.”

The North Antrim former junior minister and his wife paid £114,500 (€127,455) for his end of terrace home at Ballyallaght, Bushmills, on the same day as another couple who purchased for £3,000 (€3,338) more, despite having a smaller property.

The report added: “The committee noted that the estate agent considered the price paid by Mr Paisley Jnr represented a fair price for the property in May 2004.”

Mr Cubitt had alleged Mr Paisley had a close relationship with the developer and lobbied for him over a number of years.

“Prima facie this would seem like a partial gift and accordingly I would request that the matter be referred to the Committee on Standards and Privilege,” he said.

Mr Paisley has faced a series of questions about his dealings with Mr Sweeney.

He said: “Although I was surprised and somewhat disappointed that these complaints had been lodged with the committee in the first place, I am obviously very satisfied to have received this total vindication of my stance from the outset and of my reputation.”