Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I welcome the clear statement from Stormont’s expenses oversight body, the Independent Financial Review Panel (IRFP), that they stand by their claim that £150,000 should not have been paid to Sinn Fein/IRA MLAs for supposed work carried out by Research Services Ireland (RSI).
“Given that there are serious questions about RSI it remains my view that the full £700,000 paid to the company should be recovered to the public purse. It is also a matter which the PSNI should be investigating – something I requested that they do after the BBC first broadcast their allegations about abuse of the expenses system over two years ago.
“The more one examines this matter the more questions arise. In addition to those which I have already posed I have tabled the following questions to the Assembly Commission:
To ask the Assembly Commission what response was made to correspondence from the PSNI on the subject of payments to Research Services Ireland.
To ask the Assembly Commission to set out the audit process followed in respect of the £700,000 payments to Research Services Ireland.
To ask the Assembly Commission to detail the involvement of the Northern Ireland Audit Office in any examination of the processes in place in respect of the £700,000 payments to Research Services Ireland.
To ask the Assembly Commission to detail the checks which were carried out in respect of the claims giving rise to the £700,000 payments to Research Services Ireland.
To ask the Assembly Commission to explain the internal audit arrangements in place in respect of checking and validating expenses claims by MLAs.
“Voters can draw their own conclusions as to why other MLAs are not asking similar questions.”