Three MPs and one peer to be charged over expenses

[T_i_B]

I can't see how Lord Hanningfield can continue as Essex County Council leader with this going on.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8499590.stm

Three Labour MPs and one Tory peer will face criminal charges over their expenses, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer has said.

MPs Elliot Morley, Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield will be charged under the Theft Act.

Paul White - the Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield - is accused of "dishonestly" submitting claims "for expenses to which he knew he was not entitled" - including overnight stays in London.

Labour peer Lord Clarke will not be charged but a sixth case remains under investigation, said Keir Starmer.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The sixth case is Baroness Uddin

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7016392.ece (at the bottom)

The Labour peer Baroness Uddin today became the latest politician accused of distorting their expenses after claiming £100,000 from the taxpayer for a flat neighbours said had been unoccupied for years.

Uddin reportedly told parliamentary authorities that a two-bedroom flat in Maidstone, Kent, which she bought four years ago was her main residence, allowing her to claim the allowance for a second home allocated to parliamentarians who live outside commuting distance of the capital.

All five neighbours of the peer's Maidstone flat insist the property has been vacant for years while Uddin has continued to live in Wapping, east London, four miles from Westminster. The Sunday Times alleged that Uddin has claimed £30,000 a year to pay for the Maidstone flat and that the family house in east London, where her children went to school, is her "second home".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/03/baroness-uddin-second-home-expenses