Home affairs minister Walton Brown batted away questions in the House of Assembly yesterday over alleged links to developer Michael MacLean.

It was claimed that Mr Brown told Mr MacLean that he would help resolve his dispute with the Government over the removal of his lease on the Hamilton waterfront.

Opposition MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin posed a parliamentary question to Mr Brown on statements that the minister was said to have made on public radio on November 8 that: “Mr MacLean approached him concerning the waterfront matter, and there was agreement he would assist in resolving the matter”.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said that on November 18, Mr Brown told the House that he had not been involved in “any dialogue or any sort of negotiations on the matter, either before or after becoming minister”.

Mr Brown told Ms Gordon-Pamplin yesterday: “As that is currently under police investigation, it is not advisable that I make further comment.”