The councillor who was leader of our County Council, Lord Hanningfield, has been sentenced to nine months in prison for the House of Lords expenses fraud. The BBC reports on it here.
Cllr Mike Mackrory, Deputy Leader of the Official Opposition Liberal Democrat Group on Essex County Council , commented:
?The public have every right to expect that people who abuse their position to defraud the taxpayer, must feel the full force of the law. The case exposed a shocking misuse of power which has undermined the reputation of hard working local councillors. We now await the further police investigations into the outstanding allegations of fraud within Essex County Council by Lord Hanningfield.?