LTTE terror loyalist Keith Vaz is accused by London 's Daily
Mail of a "shameless abuse of power and office"
(By Walter Jayawardhana)
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Keith Vaz |
In brilliant investigative pieces of reporting
London 's Daily Mail accusedLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE)
long standing friend and Labour parliamentarian Keith Vaz of "a
shameles abuse of power and office."
The newspaper in two articles and an editorial
published on March 16 accused Vaz that he used his position as
chairman of the Home Affairs select Committee of the British House
of Commons , which has a key role in law and order issues to
intervene in a court case looking into the conduct of a conman
"lawyer" whose license to practice law was cancelled.
The editorial on the same day said, "Today, we
reveal the true extent of this shameless MP's grotesque abuse of his
position: Mr Vaz signed the letter, written on Parliamentary
notepaper, as 'chairman home affairs committee', despite the fact he
was acting in a purely personal capacity, and had received lavish
hospitality from Mireskandari (the alleged conman)".
Keith Vaz has been constantly accusing Sri Lanka ,
vociferously repeating LTTE slogans in the parliament and recently
brought pressure on the British government to appoint an independent
investigator into the human rights record of Sri Lanka which the Sri
Lanka government has angrily rejected. He is a close associate of
the LTTE front, the British Tamil Forum and heads the All Party
Parliamentary Group for the Tamils , which is carrying on a virulent
campaign against Sri Lanka .
The Daily mail accused Keith Vaz that he did these
favours to the conman Mireskandari for lavish presents he bestowed
upon the , the British Parliamentarian of Goanese origin from India
who has been campaigning against Sri Lanka for the last few decades.
The Daily Mail newspaper said Vaz will now be
under pressure to step down as committee chairman amid accusations
that he tried to interfere with the legal system and exploited his
status to try to stop the case against the conman. His colleague
Virendra Sharma MP , Member of the Justice Select Committee said he
was misled into co-sign the letter by Vaz. Sharma also could be
under pressure to resign from the committee.
Vaz, who is the MP for Leicester East was
intervening on behalf of Solictor Shahrock 'Sean' Mireskandari who
following revealations in the Daily Mail last year that he had
convictions in the US and bogus legal qualifications , has been
suspended from practicising law in Britain.
The Daily Mirror said "at the time that Vaz wrote
to the judge Mireskandari's law firm , Dean and Dean , was involved
in a long running and costly legal dispute with an airline over
œ400,000 legal bill which threatened the solicitor with bankruptcy."
The Daily mail said the conman lawyer showered Vaz with gifts and
appreciation. Thanks to him Keith Vaz enjoyed the best seats at the
biggest and most glamorous events around London , the newspaper
revealed. Mr. Vaz' wife, human rights lawyer Maria Fernandes, was
also abeneficiary of the Mireskandari largesse, the Mail further
accused.
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Keith Vaz
and wife Maria Fernandez |
The
newspaper said Vaz frequented in the conman's office. A former
employee of the office was quoted as telling , "He loved the high
life ,footbal, concerts, black tie dinners. It was really
undignified for such a senior politician."
The Daily mail in the exclusive revealation said:
"Damning evidence of how senior Labour MP Keith Vaz intervened in a
court case on behalf of a crooked friend can be revealed today."
The following is the editorial Daily Mail
published based on the revelation: "The relationship between the
Labour MP Keith Vaz and Sean Mireskandari, a convicted conman with
bogus legal qualifications, has carried a bad smell since it was
first exposed by the Mail last Autumn.
As we reported at the time, the pair became so
close that Mr Vaz was even prepared to send a letter to the High
Court asking for the delay of a legal dispute that was threatening
Mireskandari's law firm with financial ruin. Yet, after the most
perfunctory of inquiries into this cosy friendship, parliamentary
standards commissioner John Lyon cleared Mr Vaz of wrongdoing.Too
close for comfort: Vaz tried to influence a court hearing to help
convicted conman Mireskandari
Today, we reveal the true extent of this shameless
MP's grotesque abuse of his position: Mr Vaz signed the letter,
written on Parliamentary notepaper, as 'chairman home affairs
committee', despite the fact he was acting in a purely personal
capacity, and had received lavish hospitality from Mireskandari.
Surely Mr Vaz recognised the potential impropriety
of using his chairmanship of the hugely powerful committee as part
of an attempt to influence a hearing of one of Britain 's highest
courts?
The answer, apparently, is no, and he continues to
deny any wrongdoing, as he has done many times before when mired in
sleaze allegations.
In 2001, he was at the centre of the Hinduja
brothers passport scandal, which led to the resignation of Peter
Mandelson.A year later he was suspended from the House of Commons in
disgrace after a Parliamentary inquiry into his business affairs.
But, despite this track record, the Labour whips
still felt able, in 2007, to hand him the chairmanship of the home
affairs committee, which oversees much of the justice system. Now,
Mr Vaz has dragged the good name of that committee into the legal
affairs of convicted crook Mireskandari, without the consent of its
members.
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Shahrokh Mireskandari |
A more wilful abuse of his office is hard to
imagine.
It was only few weeks ago hundreds of Sri Lankans
surrounded his Leicester political office and openly accused him of
receiving favours from a banned terrorist organization , the LTTE
and speaking for them.
Yohan Perera one of the organizers said on the
face of Vaz that he is so unbalanced in his statements supportive of
the LTTE .
"We came here to tell you and the people misguided
by you that you are spoiling the good name of my country in an
outrageous manner," he said. He added by questioning Vaz, "How dare
you call an outfit that have done 350 suicide bombings and done
thousands of other civilian killings in buses, trains and temples,
involved in mass murdering, a bunch of freedom fighters?"
In a letter handed over by the demonstrators to
Mr. Keith Vaz the organization said that it is not a secret that he
supported the deadly terrorist outfit the LTTE. It further said that
it is also not a secret that Keith Vaz has marched preached and
provided employment to LTTE front organizations such as British
Tamil Forum, Tamil Youth organization, Tamil Councillors Association
etc.
Quoting the Hansard SLAT also said that he was
advocating the lifting of the proscription of the LTTE in the UK .
But the letter said however the British parliamentarian has never
spoken a single word about the atrocities by the LTTE, the hundreds
of suicide attacks by the same terrorist outfit, conscription of
children by them as child soldiers and forcefully keeping human
shield by them. The letter said the parliamentarian has been silent
about the extortion of thousands of British Tamils by the LTTE. The
letter urged him to stop supporting the LTTE.
