LONDON — Four British lawmakers will face criminal charges and the prospect of jail for alleged shady accounting practices during Britain’s expense claims scandal, the country’s chief prosecutor said today.
Keir Starmer, Britain’s director of public prosecution, said three members of the House of Commons and one member of the House of Lords had been charged with false accounting offenses.
Investigations into six cases followed the exposure last year of the misuse of claims by hundreds of British lawmakers, who used taxpayers’ money to fund expenses on everything from swank second homes to horse manure, porn movies and a mole catcher.
During the scandal, nine of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ministers quit and his ruling Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local and European elections as angry voters deserted mainstream parties. Two House of Commons legislators have been ousted and about 150 others won’t run in the next national election as a result of the public uproar that tarnished all political parties.
Starmer said three Labour Party lawmakers in the House of Commons — Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine — and a Conservative Party member in the House of Lords — Paul White, known as Lord Hanningfield, had been charged.
All four men will appear March 11 at London’s City of Westminster court. Charges of false accounting carry a possible jail term of up to seven years.
Brown’s Labour Party previously suspended Morley, Chaytor and Devine, and ruled that none of them could be a party candidate in the future. The three have protested their innocence.
“We totally refute any charges that we have committed an offense and we will defend our position robustly,” they said in a joint statement.
After today’s announcement, White quit his post as an opposition spokesman on transport issues and was suspended from the Conservative Party. White remains as leader of Essex County Council, the municipal authority in the county of Essex, east of London.
Starmer said White faces six charges of false accounting and is alleged to have submitted claims for overnight stays in London when records show that he had driven home.
“I totally refute the charges and will vigorously defend myself against them,” White said.
Chaytor faces three charges of false accounting. He is accused of using false invoices to bill the public for IT services worth almost 2,000 pounds ($3,145). He also allegedly claimed 12,925 pounds ($20,317) in rent for a central London house he already owned, and claimed another 5,425 pounds ($8,530) in rent on a house in northern England owned by his mother.
Morley, formerly Brown’s envoy on climate change, faces two charges of false accounting. He is alleged to have billed taxpayers about 30,500 ($48,000) in mortgage payments on a loan that had already been paid off.
“Dreadful day, can’t wait to put my side of the story,” Morley posted on his Twitter Web site.
Devine faces two charges for allegedly using false invoices for claims for cleaning and stationery.
Starmer said prosecutors had dismissed complaints against a second member of the House of Lords — Anthony Clarke, a Labour Party member — and a sixth case is still being considered.
A report issued Thursday into the expense scandal ordered 392 current and former British legislators to repay a total of 1.12 million pounds ($1.7 million).
On the Net::
Crown Prosecution Service statement bit.ly/9rTFYW
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