Statement by the DUP About Financial Allegations Involving Peter Robinson (DUP), (30 March 2010)

Statement by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) About Financial Allegations Involving First Minster Peter Robinson (DUP) Raised by the BBC, (30 March 2010)

"It is difficult to escape the conclusion that this is yet another example of the ongoing BBC smear campaign against DUP leader Peter Robinson. In January they made groundless allegations against him in the Spotlight Programme and now they seek to smear him further by innuendo and inference.

In fact, this is not even a new story. The sale of his back garden has appeared on the BBC in the past and this particular story first appeared in the Daily Mirror several months ago.

Mr Robinson sold his land at the market-value, as admitted by the BBC.  There are no tax implications.  The sliver of land was bought for £5 and sold for £5, a fact that has never been hidden, and Mr Robinson derived no financial benefit whatsoever from the transaction.  There were a number of other access possibilities and the sliver of land was not essential for access.  Mr Robinson was not present at any meetings where issues about the planning approval for this land were raised. No registration was considered necessary as no financial gain was accrued and the sliver in question was purchased for five pounds.

The BBC has been working on this broadcast since the beginning of the year but has cynically chosen to delay broadcast of this report to the start of the election campaign.

While the BBC was slow to run stories concerning the cover up of child sex abuse earlier this month, or the cover up of murder earlier this week, they seem all too eager to run a story about the entirely legal sale of Peter Robinson’s back garden.

We are fed up with this ongoing BBC smear campaign and Mr Robinson has handed these issues over to his legal team to be dealt with.

People will reach their own conclusions about the motivations which lie behind such decisions, but the DUP does not intend to be distracted from the work of moving Northern Ireland forward."