A senior British Conservative MP who heads a parliamentary committee to lessen poverty in the Third World has been accused of trying to use his position to make up to £1.5 million ($2.8 million) for his own company from diamond mining concessions.

 

Tony Baldry, a former minister, was paid by a diamond firm to lobby the government of Sierra Leone to secure valuable diamond concessions, according to The Times

 

Baldry, chairman of the Commons international development committee, has close links with Sierra Leone and has visited the country twice in the past year on behalf of Milestone Trading, a UK-registered company owned by two Israeli businessmen, the paper says.

 

Baldry received a $75,000 payment into a company of which he is non-executive chairman and a one-third shareholder. He also signed a deal for his firm to take a 3 percent share in Milestone when it is floated later this year. Milestone estimates that this could be worth £1.5m, The Times said.

 

He also asked Britain's International Development Minister Hilary Benn to give the company a "best practice" seal of approval.

 

Baldry's letter to Benn was written on Commons notepaper and although it disclosed that Baldry planned to become chairman of Milestone, it did not reveal the shareholding his company had negotiated. Under Commons rules, MPs must declare not only paid directorships and overseas trips, but also any parliamentary advocacy on behalf of commercial clients, the paper reported.

 

Baldry's select committee is responsible for scrutinizing the millions in government aid spent in countries such as Sierra Leone. A critical report by the committee can have an impact on whether such aid continues.

 

Baldry has long-standing personal links with Sierra Leone. He is a former colleague of President Ahmad Kabbah, who once practiced in the same London law office, and remains head of the chambers that acts for the Sierra Leone government in Britain.

 

Baldry's approach led Foreign Office officials to look into Milestone's affairs in Sierra Leone. They discovered allegations of human rights abuses at its two alluvial diamond mines in Sandoh and Nimikoro provinces.

 

Despite Baldry claiming local communities were "very happy with Milestone", leaders of the United Mineworkers Union in Sierra Leone complained workers were paid a pittance and denied adequate water and accommodation.

 

Further allegations have surfaced that local policemen were hired as security guards and used to intimidate workers who went on strike over conditions.

 

Ezekiel Dyke, the mining union's leader, said: "The management are grabbing the diamonds without doing anything concrete to create better conditions or assist in developing the area."

 

Baldry denied the charges and said his work would benefit both Britain and Sierra Leone through jobs, investment and pledges to build a road, a school and a diagnostic clinic.