THE DUP has rejected suggestions that First Minister Peter Robinson and his wife Iris could be liable for tax charges over the purchase and sale of a small strip of access land close to his family home in east Belfast.
The DUP also accused the BBC of waging a “smear” campaign against Mr Robinson after BBC Northern Ireland last night reported that the Robinsons bought the land for £5 from the late Fred Fraser, and that they then sold it to a property developer for £5.
Mr Fraser is the property developer who, at Ms Robinson’s recommendation, provided a loan of £25,000 to help her former lover Kirk McCambley set up the Lough Keeper’s Inn by the River Lagan in Belfast.
Mr Robinson subsequently insisted that she repay that loan.
BBC’s Newsline programme reported that the sale of the access land to the Robinsons, and its resale to another property company, enabled that second property company to buy land for housing; this included part of the of the Robinsons’ back garden which they sold for almost £460,000.
That £460,000 was the market value of the garden at the time. Some neighbouring home owners also sold parts of their gardens for the development, which ultimately never took place because of the recession.
It was reported that the proposed development would only be possible if the property company had ownership of the small strip of land, to ensure access to the housing scheme.
A professional valuation carried out for the BBC put the access strip’s value at between £75,000 and £100,000 when the Robinsons obtained it, and at least £220,000 when they sold it. The BBC also reported that such a valuation could potentially expose the “Robinsons to a tax bill of thousands of pounds”.
The DUP, in a statement, said there were no tax implications for the Robinsons over the purchase and sale of the access land. It also said that the access land was not critical to the development as there were other access possibilities.
“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,” said the DUP.
“It is difficult to escape the conclusion that this is yet another example of the ongoing BBC smear campaign against DUP leader Peter Robinson,” it added.
Accusing the BBC of employing “innuendo and inference” to try to damage Mr Robinson, the DUP said, “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.”
The BBC said that the Newslineinvestigation, "has been carried out in the public interest and is a responsible and balanced piece of journalism. The BBC conducts its investigations in compliance with strict editorial guidelines.
“We are confident the report was balanced and accurate. The Robinsons were made aware of the allegations on several occasions and were given appropriate rights of reply.”