Expenses prosecutions: The charges
By politics.co.uk staff
Three Labour MPs and a Tory peer have appeared in court to answer charges brought by the Crown Prosecution Service. All pleaded not guilty.
Scunthorpe MP Elliot Morley has been charged with two offences under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 for false accounting.
It is alleged that between April 2004 and February 2006 he dishonestly claimed mortgage expenses of £14,428 in excess of what he was entitled to receive. The second charge alleges that between March 2006 and November 2007 he dishonestly claimed mortgage expenses of £16,000 for the same property when there was no longer a mortgage on that property.
Bury North MP David Chaytor is charged with three offences under the same Act. The first alleges that in May 2006 he dishonestly claimed £1,950 for IT services via false invoices. The second claims that between September 2005 and September 2006 he dishonestly claimed £12,925, purportedly for renting a property in London’s Regency Street when he was in fact the owner of the property. The third charge alleges that between September 2007 and January 2008 Mr Chaytor dishonestly claimed £5,425 purportedly for renting a property in Bury, Lancashire, which was owned by his mother.
Jim Devine, MP for Livingston, is charged with two offences under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 for false accounting.
The first alleges that between July 2008 and April 2009 he dishonestly claimed £3,240 for cleaning services involving false invoices. The second charge alleges that in March 2009 he dishonestly claimed £5,505 for stationery using false invoices.
The fourth individual subject to criminal charges under the same Act is Paul White, otherwise known as Lord Hanningfield. The charges against the Tory peer allege that between March 2006 and May 2009 he dishonestly submitted claims for expenses for which he knew he was not entitled, including “numerous” claims for overnight expenses for staying in London when records apparently show he was driven home and did not stay in the capital.
