From the Daily Telegraph last night:
The Daily Telegraph understands that detectives will imminently pass files on Labour MPs Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine, and peers Baroness Uddin, Lord Hanningfield and Lord Clarke of Hampstead to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Keir Starmer, the country?s top prosecutor, is expected to make a decision on whether to prosecute the politicians as early as January, before a General Election.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will decide whether the MPs and peers face court on counts of fraud, which carries a maximum sentence on conviction of 10 years, or false accounting, for which the maximum penalty is up to seven years…..
Police and criminal lawyers are confident that charges will be brought…….
……. Lord Hanningfield, the Conservative peer who is also the leader of Essex County Council, claimed ?100,000 over seven years for staying in London despite living just 46 miles from the capital. He has been investigated over whether he was returning to his home in Essex while claiming ?overnight allowances?? for staying in London.
He has a full-time chauffeur provided by the local authority at taxpayers? expense and his claims from both parliament and the council are being studied.
I hope that the local press cover this!
I hope that justice is seen to be done and those found guilty punished.
I also hope that the Conservative faithful take heed and justice is also metered out at the ballot box… I can only hope!
With the Telegraph talking about prosecutions, we have to regard the six persons as legally innocent until proven guilty. The Echo has mentioned it but is rightly being circumspect in what it says, as we are here.
We only mentioned this case because it involves someone who leads our county council. However we do trust that the electorate will bear the expenses issues in mind when they go to vote. We notice that the other five people mentioned by the Telegraph are all Labour politicians!
Thankfully (from a Lib Dem point of view) none of the six are Lib Dems, and there seem to have been far fewer blatant misuses of the rules amongst Lib Dem politicians than with other parties. HOWEVER this case
http://www.libdemvoice.org/lib-dem-peer-admits-exploiting-expenses-loophole-16761.html
leaves me feeling pretty angry.