EAST LONDON PRESS
We have been reporting on the UK ‘mainstream’ media focus on Pola Uddin now for a good few weeks. We have also been pointing out in that time the absence of coverage of the events from the local ‘East London Advertiser’.
We can add that the same has been true of the so-called ethnic papers and the ethnic TV channels.
In particular of those who claim to be representing the Bangladeshis in the UK and in Western European countries.
What those have done is mainly to paper over the coverage of the allegations against Pola Uddin in the UK mainstream media..
They are very reluctant indeed to tell the truth about Pola Uddin’s current 'prominence' in the media. This is not accidental. The ethnic operations and Pola Uddin owe their successes [!], to date, to the entrenched network that dominates the ‘political management’ of the Labour Party.
This is why Pola Uddin was at all put into the House of Peers in the first place. But what is the secret behind the silence of the East London Advertiser?
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THE DAILY TELEGRAPH web site 20 June 2009
By Richard Edwards, Crime CorrespondentPublished: 5:22PM BST 19 Jun 2009
Photo: BEN LACK / IMAGES INTERNATIONAL / MEN
The Metropolitan Police has announced that it will carry out inquiries into a small number of cases in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal.
The Telegraph understands that they relate to claims based on “phantom mortgages” when an MP has potentially misled the Fees Office.
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The politicians involved, who have not named but are believed to include MPs and a member of the House of Lords, now face formal questioning under caution by police and possible prosecution.
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "After consideration by the joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service assessment panel the Met has decided to launch an investigation into the alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and Lords".
Detectives have been liaising with the Fees Office and looking specifically at the claims of Labour MPs Elliot Morley and David Chaytor.
Mr Morley, a minister for nine years under Tony Blair, claimed reimbursement of £16,000 in interest over 18 months for a mortgage that did not exist.
He became one of the first casualties of the scandal when he was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and later announced that he would stand down as an MP.
Mr Chaytor also announced he would be standing, as MP for Bury North, after it was disclosed that he claimed almost £13,000 in interest from his MP’s expenses for a mortgage that he had already paid off.
He said that he had made an “unforgivable error” in his “accounting procedures” and apologised to his constituents.
Criminal lawyers have said that the claims could constitute a criminal offence under the 2006 Fraud Act and the 1968 Theft Act.
The Met have received more than a hundred complaints from members of the public about MPs, including the Cabinet members Alistair Darling and Geoff Hoon and the Labour peer Baroness Uddin.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Scotland Yard Commissioner, and Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions, set up a panel to assess allegations of misuse of expenses.
The panel have decided that possible prosecutions are only realistic on cases where MPs allegedly misled the Fees Office, which processes Parliamentary expenses.
Cases in which MPs have “flipped” properties and lawfully avoided capital gains tax – including that of Hazel Blears – are not a matter for the police. Those cases may, however, still face investigation by the inland revenue.
Mr Morley initially blamed his error on “sloppy accounting”. But he admitted that he claimed £800 a month for more than a year and a half after his mortgage had been repaid.
He said last month: “I accept that I have made a mistake in this case and have rectified it in full. I deeply apologise for such sloppy accounting in a very loose and shambolic allowance system but there is nobody to blame but myself and I take full responsibility for this. I apologise unreservedly.”
The Telegraph established that between September, 2005, and August. 2006, Mr Chaytor claimed £1,175 a month for mortgage interest on a Westminster flat. However, Land Registry records showed that the mortgage on the flat had already been paid off in January 2004.
Mr Chaytor said that his priority in the next few months would be to “explain his errors” over his expenses.
“This will be time-consuming and stressful,” he went on. “I have referred my case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and will co-operate fully with his inquiry.”
All of the complaints have been passed to the Met’s Specialist Crime Directorate, headed by Janet Williams, the Acting Assistant Commissioner.
The cases are being handled by Nigel Mawer, the Met’s head of specialist and economic crime.
Scotland Yard moves in: Four MPs and a peer face criminal investigation for expenses fraud
By James Chapman and Stephen WrightLast updated at 1:14 AM on 20th June 2009
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Probe: Sir Paul Stephenson's Met will carry out the investigation into the MPs
The expense scandal engulfing Parliament took a dramatic twist last night as Scotland Yard launched a full-scale inquiry.
At least two Labour MPs and a Labour peer are to be investigated over alleged fraud in their claims.
Detectives are also considering evidence against several more, who face the humiliation of being interviewed under caution, prosecuted and even jailed.
Labour MPs David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, who claimed interest payments for ‘phantom’ mortgages, and Baroness Uddin, who has been accused of fiddling subsistence allowances, all face police investigations.
Two other MPs, Labour’s Ben Chapman and Tory Bill Wiggin, may also face further inquiries after they were exposed as claiming for mortgages that did not exist.
The MPs could be charged with fraud, theft or misconduct in a public office.
The maximum sentence under both the Serious Fraud Act 2006 and the Theft Act 1968 is ten years. Misconduct in public office carries a maximum life sentence.
Officers believe there is only a realistic chance of prosecution in cases where it can be proved that individuals misled Parliament’s fees office.
In an indication of the scale of the abuse of the system, around 180 MPs have joined an undignified scramble to pay back almost £500,000 in wrongly-claimed expenses.
And two senior Government figures were last night facing pressure over their claims after agreeing to hand back thousands of pounds.
Business minister Rosie Winterton paid back more than £8,000 after admitting claiming for mortgage capital instead of interest for years, in breach of the rules.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander repaid over £12,000 after admitting claiming taxpayers’ money on a property while also receiving rent from a tenant living in an annexe.
Chancellor Alistair Darling and his Tory shadow George Osborne – in charge of the two main parties’ financial policy – admitted further errors in their claims yesterday and repaid hundreds of pounds each.
After the outcry over censorship of the officially-published expenses on Thursday, there is growing pressure on Commons authorities to change the system before this year’s expenses claims are revealed in the autumn.
The covering-up of scams such as ‘flipping’ of second homes to boost claims – revealed only by the leak of uncensored Commons files to the Daily Telegraph – has deepened public fury.
Both David Cameron and Gordon Brown vied to take the lead as they called for greater transparency yesterday.
The Tory leader ordered his shadow Cabinet to publish all claims, receipts and correspondence with Commons authorities on the internet as soon as they are filed.
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Brown's £500 expenses bill for painting summer house at 'flipped' Scottish home
Tainted race to be Speaker: Five hopefuls give back cash they should not have had
But doubts over Parliament’s readiness to clean up its act mounted as a Daily Mail investigation showed many of the candidates to be the next Commons Speaker have had to repay money.
Former sleaze watchdog Sir Alistair Graham said MPs were fooling themselves if they thought paying back money would be enough to rein in the anger.
‘I’m sure this has got some way to run yet, and we will see a significant number of further casualties,’he said.
BUS TICKETS AND BISCUITS
Breathalysers, bed linen and books about Tony Blair - MPs claimed for them all on their expenses. Following yesterday's revelations of dozens of petty and bizarre claims, here we present a further selection of the oddest things politicians bought courtesy of the taxpayer
£1.05 Single postage stamp claimed by Britain's richest MP, Shaun Woodward
£1.40 Bus ticket for Mr Woodward
£1.89 Pack of tea towels for Nadine Dorries
£1.99 Grater for Rosie Winterton
£5.90 Jam pot covers for Jonathan Djanogly - who also needed six picnic forks
£9.99 Book entitled The Rebels: How Blair Mislaid His Majority for leading Brownite Ed Balls
£10 Milk frother for Conservative MP Graham Brady
£14.99 Don Foster's clock gift set
£21 Black toilet roll holder for Graham Brady
£32 Monthly rental of Nadine Dorries' Blackberry phone
£33 Remembrance Day poppy wreaths for education secretary Ed Balls
£33.38 McVities Luxury Biscuits for Nadine Dorries MP
£39 Copies of the Racing Post for Richard Spring - necessary because Newmarket racecourse is in his constituency, he says
£55 To replace Dominic Grieve's lost garden shed key
£60 Books including How Parliament Works for Conservative MP Greg Clark
£69 A breathalyser machine for Ian Cawsey. The MP says it was necessary for work-related purposes
£95 Training course for Speaker candidate Richard Shepherd entitled 'Why your FOI requests are being blocked and what you can do about it'
£130 Ironing shirts and cleaning services over four weeks for Labour's John Healey
£147.50 Caroline Flint's silk business and moving cards
£186.83 Cost of Nick Brown's half-page ad in a Girl Guides annual report
£195.95 Digital camera for Ann Coffey - who lost it and claimed
£169.99 for another one three months later
£240 Cost of 150 prints of 'Ann Widdecombe at her desk' for the MP
£260 A bill from Tony Blair - apparently to have his expenses receipts shredded
£318.77 Car sat-nav device for Nadine Dorries
£327.94 Camera from Harrods for Hugo Swire - who claimed for two other cameras in same year
£371 New garage door for Douglas Alexander in July 2006
£5420 Another new garage door - this time with glossy paint - for Douglas Alexander in May 2007
£472.61 Website design paid by MP Kate Hoey to her brother John Hoey - who was 'cheaper' than using a web company
£549.96 Labour MP Shona McIsaac's table and eight faux leather chairs
£550 Bob Ainsworth, Defence Secretary, for a sat-nav device
£564 David Cameron's claim for new photos on gallery of his website
£593.59 Paper shredder for Ian McCartney
£594.55 Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy's Christmas Cards
£600 Margaret Beckett's hanging baskets
£609 Bill for trimming around Michael Spicer's helipad
£650 Venetian blinds for Taunton MP Jeremy Browne
£656.54 Bill from David Cameron for 'burning oil' (thought to be for an Aga)
£668.56 Bed linen for Hazel Blears
£722.66 Anthony Steen's ' manufactured fire dogs and grate - all polished and lacquered'
£797.62 Ashok Kumar's ceiling mirror and other renovations
£938 Jim Devine MP's minkcoloured suite
£1,000 Cupboard for Paul Holmes MP
£1,086.30 Alan Beith's laundry bill over three years
£1,197.51 Toilet blocked by sanitary towel. Would-be Speaker John Bercow's repair bill included £933.14 for replacing the toilet
£1,197.69 Chris Grayling's claim for three shredders
£1,765 Oliver Letwin's phone bill
£1,800 Christopher Fraser's bill for cherry laurel and red cedar trees
£2,339 Alistair Darling's claim for 'magnolia cavalier cavalace velvet wool carpet with cloud and cumulus underlay'
£3,525 Keith Vaz's claim for 42,000 calendars
£5,137.70 Liam Fox's mobile phone bill
£8,289.04 Former postman Alan Johnson's bill for a device to fold paper and insert it into envelopes
‘It is going to take a very long time before an element of trust between the public and politicians can be restored.’
The decision to formally launch criminal investigations follows a month-long exercise by detectives and Crown Prosecution Service lawyers, who have examined in detail the actions of a small number of MPs and peers.
The investigation will be led by Acting Commander Nigel Mawer and the CPS will decide who, if anyone, should be charged.
Yard chiefs had been expected to announce next week whether they would launch criminal investigations.
But, amid claims they had been dragging their feet over the scandal, the decision was made public late yesterday afternoon.
Former environment minister Mr Morley has now repaid a grand total of £37,000 and been barred from standing again at the next election.
He said that closer scrutiny of his claims by his lawyers had found that part of the capital on his mortgage was paid from public funds.
This is explicitly banned under Commons rules, which say only mortgage interest can be reimbursed.
Last month it emerged that Mr Morley claimed £800 a month for a home in his Scunthorpe constituency even though the mortgage had already been paid off.
Mr Chaytor has also been told he cannot stand for Labour again after he claimed £13,000 for a mortgage he had paid off. He said he had made an ‘unforgivable error’.
Baroness Uddin, who apparently claimed an empty Maidstone flat was her main home so she could receive expenses for peers based outside the capital, will also be formally investigated.
Prosecution sources did not rule out launching further probes as Commons officials review the claims of scores more MPs in detail.
Blair claimed for shredder
Tony Blair claimed £260 on expenses - to have his expenses receipts shredded, it was claimed yesterday.
The outgoing Prime Minister spent the cash on shredding services as he wound up his parliamentary affairs shortly before leaving office two years ago.
Then he claimed the cost back from the taxpayer in his expenses submissions.
It emerged earlier this year that Mr Blair was not able to produce receipts for expenses totalling more than £43,000 over a three-year period.
Critics say there has never been a proper explanation for why the ex-premier’s receipts were shredded.
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