Assembly Speaker Robin Newton (centre)

Robin Newton – who last year blocked an Assembly question about the group without declaring his link – last night faced questions from multiple MLAs about a statement last year in which he denied having ever had a role as “adviser” to Charter NI, which is run by alleged UDA chief Dee Stitt.

After BBC Spotlight obtained internal Charter NI documents which describe the veteran DUP MLA in precisely those terms, he said that he had offered advice to organisations from all sections of the community and that “some of my contacts have been formal, stronger or longer than others”.

A UDA whistleblower told the programme that the banned terrorist group’s members had been advised by a commander at a closed meeting to vote for Mr Newton in East Belfast and DUP colleague Alex Easton in North Down.

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The programme also alleged that just four months ago a DUP councillor attended a UDA meeting at which he handed out voter registration forms and DUP leaflets.

The councillor denied that he ever attended a UDA meeting and said that he had attended a meeting of a flute band.

Spotlight also highlighted how Sinn Fein had joined forces with the DUP to oppose attempts to investigate their £80 million Social Investment Fund (SIF), out of which many groups with paramilitary links received public money.

Many groups with no paramilitary links have also received money.

Spotlight revealed concerns that one such group in north Belfast which has been a major SIF beneficiary – the Ashton Centre – seemed to have close links to Sinn Fein, leading to concerns from groups without political links that they lose out on public money.

Spotlight said that the group, which last year had a £7 million turnover, did “excellent” work and is not linked to paramilitaries, but local SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon said that Ashton “does seem to have a relationship of sorts with Sinn Féin and it has been very successful at drawing down public money”.

Spotlight revealed that Ashton’s chief executive, Paul Roberts, was chairman of the SIF steering group in North Belfast which allocated the organisation contracts of more than £5 million of which Ashton should receive more than £2 million.

The steering group said it fully complied with SIF’s rules and Ashton said that it “does not have strong links to any political party” and had “never received preferential treatment”.

The revelations about Mr Newton come after a year in which Mr Newton has been at the centre of a series of controversies which have eroded his authority and in January led to an unprecedented attempt in to remove him as Speaker.

Last November, facing questions about his role with Charter NI, Mr Newton told the Assembly that he had “never held a position as adviser to Charter NI” and that his involvement with the organisation was “no different than it would be with any organisation in my constituency seeking advice”.

However, Spotlight said that internal Charter NI documents obtained by it and stretching back many years told another story. The programme said that “again and again they refer to Mr Newton as an adviser and they reveal that from late 2012 he attended the full Charter NI board meetings.

Spotlight said that the minutes of one board meeting from December 2013 showed a discussion about his role as an adviser and that the documents showed the DUP MLA as having an important role in helping to run Charter NI.

It said that as an adviser he helped to steer the board and that he also sat on board sub-committees, head-hunted board members and had extensive involvement in lobbying funders on behalf of the organisation which is headed by alleged UDA ‘brigadier’ Dee Stitt.

Mr Newton was appointed Speaker in May 2016 but he continued to work for the group until late 2016, the programme said.

Mr Newton again defended his actions, saying that he helped a range of groups in his area.

Earlier this year Mr Stitt said that paramilitarism was now “in my past” and that “there is no role as a military organisation for the UDA any more”.

But a UDA whistleblower who spoke anonymously - because he said he would be killed by the group if his identity was known - alleged that Mr Stitt remains the UDA ‘brigadier’ in North Down where the group continues to deal drugs and has this year attacked and intimidated people from their homes.

He also alleged it is “recruiting like mad”, with one boy of 15 or 16 appearing in his school uniform at a UDA meeting.

When asked about the allegations, Mr Stitt told the BBC that he does not condone any illegal activity and supports the PSNI. Last night charter NI said that anyone with evidence to support those allegations should go to the PSNI.

SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon said that the revelations about Mr Newton “raise a number of very, very important questions about the Speaker’s relationship or his possible role with this organisation”.

She added: “Why was the Speaker not completely up front when he had the opportunity to do so in front of all his MLA colleagues?”

Spotlight also said that minutes of the meeting of the East Belfast SIF steering group where it was decided to give Charter NI public money showed no reasoning for that decision.

But they did record that Mr Newton was present at that meeting and do not record that he stepped out of the room when the decision was taken.

However, on a form signed that day, Mr Newton did not declare that he had an interest with Charter NI.

The chairman of the steering group declined to explain what had gone on.

TUV MLA Jim Allister said that Mr Newton had “a lot of explaining to do”.

Former Alliance Justice Minister David Ford said that the issue of whether Mr Newton had failed to declare an interest would be an issue which should be investigated by the Assembly’s Standards Commissioner.

However, Stormont currently has no Standards Commissioner, meaning that that is impossible.

The BBC investigation by Stephen Dempster also involved the commissioning of an independent assessment - from the former director general of the Audit Commission of Wales, Clive Grace - of how SIF was set up. Spotlight said that his report was “damming”. Mr Grace said that the fund was “not consistent with the highest standards of managing public money” and asked: “Why were those standards not applied?”

A UDA whistleblower told Spotlight that a month before June’s General Election DUP councillor Wesley Irvine attended a meeting of the UDA’s North Down ‘battalion’ in Bangor, with the meeting chaired by the group’s commander, Dee Stitt.

The man claimed that the former Mayor of North Down was there looking for voters.

He said that “the first item of business was for Wesley Irvine to run around the room handing out voter registration forms and DUP election material to chants of ‘DUP’ from Dee Stitt”.

When asked why he was at a meeting of an illegal organisation, Mr Irvine told BBC Spotlight that the meeting which he attended in Bangor was “a flute band meeting” and that the “sole purpose of this was to encourage electoral registration”.

He said he did not hand out DUP material that night and had never attended a UDA meeting.

At the time of going to press, the DUP had not responded to the Spotlight allegations.

What the Speaker told MLAs

Speaking last November, Robin Newton told the Assembly: “ I make it clear that, while I have offered advice, I do not hold and have never held a position as adviser to Charter NI.

“My involvement with Charter NI, as an organisation working on the ground in my constituency, has been no different than it would be with any organisation in my constituency seeking advice from its elected representative. I have supported Charter NI in projects that it is working on for the benefit of my constituents.”