The Democratic Unionists have suggested the British Ministry of Defence has a vendetta against the Royal Irish Regiment and its leader Col Tim Collins.
Mr Sammy Wilson accused the ministry of abandoning the colonel, and betraying the RIR.
His comments follows those made last week by the Ulster Unionists' Mr Jeffrey Donaldson who suggested the ministry had ulterior motives behind the announcement of two separate inquiries into Col Collins's leadership of the battalion.
The first centres on allegations made when Col Collins was in Iraq, while the second refers to the death of Mr Paul Cochrane (18), who was stationed at Drumadd barracks, Co Armagh two years ago. He died of a single gun shot to the head. No other person is thought to have been involved in his death, although an inquest has yet to be held.
Mr Wilson, in a statement yesterday, said the ministry had "rushed into an investigation". He asked for an explanation for the investigation of Col Collins's record in Iraq. "We must ask why there has, suddenly after two years, to be an investigation into the unfortunate suicide of ranger Paul Cochrane. Other British army regiments have suffered multiple suicides but there has been no such action," he said.
Mr Wilson claimed the home battalion of the RIR is to be "sacrificed and abandoned" as a result of "the recent agreement between the British and Irish governments, the IRA and the Ulster Unionist Party".
"Are these allegations against Col Tim Collins and the incident of two years ago to be used by the MoD to cover its betrayal of the RIR and perhaps prepare the way to deal with the whole regiment in a similar way?" he asked.