| lesley153
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This is from an online article in the Scottish paper, the Daily Record:
"FORMER MP David Chaytor has admitted fraudulently claiming almost £20,000."
"The plea change makes him the first politician to face a jail sentence in the parliamentary expenses scandal.
Chaytor, 61, claimed back money he had paid in rent for houses that were in fact owned by himself and by his mother. He also put in false claims for IT services.
"Chaytor had previously denied three charges of false accounting and was due to stand trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday. But he pleaded guilty to all three charges at the Old Bailey yesterday. Chaytor, a former lecturer, faces a maximum of seven years in prison – but he is expected to receive a more lenient punishment because of his guilty plea. He will be sentenced on January 7.
"Former Livingston MP Jim Devine, former Environment Minister Elliot Morley and two members of the House of Lords were also charged by police in relation to their expenses and will face trial separately. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court published its reasons for rejecting a claim by the three former MPs that criminal proceedings against them would infringe parliamentary privilege."
_____________________________________________
Chaytor even forged a tenancy agreement. We are not impressed. And he forged invoices for non-existent IT support services. The maximum sentence is seven years, but it might be reduced by a third because he changed his plea to guilty. And then again, he could hardly have maintained his plea of not guilty, could he?
Good that Supreme Court rejected a plea of parliamentary privilege. I wonder why the two members of the House of Lords haven't been named? Perhaps other papers have named them. Ah yes, The Independent have named Devine and Morley, and added the names of MP Eric Illsley, and peers Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor of Warwick.
Waiting with interest to see what happens on 7th January.
Reply #301. Dec 04 10, 4:12 PM
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mjws1968 
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It is also noticeable that of the six politicians named, four have had a career in local government as councillors and two were high ranking union officials. It is common knowledge that both local government and the unions are rife with expenses fiddling and corruption of the insidious long-term variety, so maybe they honed their craft of defrauding the public purse before they entered parliament and just had more ways to do it when they became MPs and Lords. The whole civic culture needs to be overhauled, it seems unfair in harsh economic times that such extravagant allowances are paid. Normal people as a rule have to find their own mortgage and travel expenses on much lower salaries than members of parliament, so why should they get special privileges at the taxpayers expense? I hope they all end up with a custodial sentence as a warning to the current crop to toe the line.
Reply #302. Dec 06 10, 9:21 PM
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| lesley153
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"David Chaytor jailed for 18 months over false expenses claim"
"Passing sentence, the judge said a custodial sentence was one of the first steps in restoring public faith in the parliamentary system. He said Chaytor had breached "the high degree of trust" placed in MPs who hold an "important and powerful place in society". "
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/07/mps-expenses-david-chaytor-jailed
Reply #303. Jan 07 11, 6:11 PM
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Christinap
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So now we have to pay his board and lodging for the next 18 months in addition to everything else he's had from the taxpayer. As he is no danger to society I would much rather have seen him spend the next 18 months paying back society a bit - shopping for the housebound, taking sick kids on days out, ferrying old people to and from hospital appointments, there is an endless list of things he could have been made to do. It might also have brought home to him that these are the people who paid his salary and expenses and instilled a bit of shame over the whole affair.
Reply #304. Jan 08 11, 6:21 PM
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| lesley153
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Community service! why didn't I think of that?
Perhaps the judge passed a prison sentence because he wanted to show that "justice had been done," and to discourage anyone else who had thoughts of fiddling.
When Jeffrey Archer was in an open prison, he used to nip home regularly for dinner parties. Perhaps Mr Chaytor could have been given an electronic tag and a curfew, even an ASBO. That would be another fun way to introduce him to how many of his electorate - the other half - live.
Reply #305. Jan 08 11, 6:59 PM
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mjws1968
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He'll probably end up in Ford Open Prison, which is just a three star hotel with the locks on the outside of the door rather than the inside. Rather than making a point and an example of him, they should make the punishment fit the crime. He should be made to live in a council house in Bury for 18 months on Income Support only. He should be denied access to his extensive resources and should be made to pay back every penny he defrauded the taxpayer of. Only through such "humiliation" (in his eyes) will his former colleagues be deterred from making similar "errors".
Reply #306. Jan 09 11, 6:47 PM
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mjws1968
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Oh, and a job as a refuse collector or a roadsweeper, good honest work for a very dishonest man.
Reply #307. Jan 09 11, 6:48 PM
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| lesley153
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Eighteen months living like one of the poor people his crass behaviour has made even poorer. Sounds like a good idea.
But not as an example, I suspect. All the other people who are on the fiddle will probably look down their noses at him and call him an idiot for being caught.
Reply #308. Jan 09 11, 7:22 PM
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| lesley153
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Another one:
"MP Eric Illsley is under pressure to stand down after admitting he fraudulently claimed more than £14,000 in parliamentary expenses.
"He pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to three false accounting charges over claims for his second home."
He will be sentenced next month.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12157768
Reply #309. Jan 13 11, 7:58 PM
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| lesley153
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10.50.2011 - David Laws "broke six MPs' expenses rules"
"He quit as Chief Secretary to the Treasury last year when it emerged he had claimed about £40,000 to pay rent to his partner - which is banned."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13347619
12.5.2011 - "David Laws to be suspended over expenses claims"
"MP David Laws should be suspended from the Commons for seven days over his expenses claims, the Commons standards watchdog has said.
"A report ruled the former Chief Secretary to the Treasury was "guilty of a series of serious breaches of the rules, over a considerable time".
"He wrongly claimed expenses to pay rent to his partner and for building work and telephone bills, the report said. The rent claimed on Mr Lundie's property was also found to be £200 to £300 higher a month than the market rate.
"Mr Laws apologised and said his motivation was to protect his privacy.
"The commissioner recommended that Mr Laws' suspension should begin on 7 June, but MPs will be asked to vote on whether to approve the sanction on 16 May."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13371746
Looks like he'll be suspended for seven days, then ping back before anyone's noticed he's gone. Cheat on your expenses, pay it back, apologise and refer yourself for investigation, explaining that you were only doing to it to keep your sexuality secret. Presumably claiming for an artificially inflated rent was to help protect his privacy?
Reply #310. May 12 11, 11:51 AM
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| lesley153
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Q. When can painting a house count as community service?
A. When the house belongs to a politician.
The house in question belongs to Jacqui Smith, who said the prisoners had nothing else to do...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14648111
Oh wait - that wouldn't be the same Jacqui Smith whose husband charged porn films to her parliamentary expenses account, would it? Why yes, I do believe it is.
Reply #311. Aug 24 11, 7:16 AM
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REDVIKING57
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I really should be surprised - but I'm not!
Reply #312. Aug 24 11, 7:57 AM
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| C30
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I expect I can look forward to some prisoners turning up in the near future then to paint my house for me?
No?
Oh!
Reply #313. Aug 24 11, 8:27 AM
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| lesley153
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I'm in the wrong job!
What price honesty and competence, when dishonesty and incompetence are so much more remunerative?
Despondent now. :(
Reply #316. Sep 20 11, 7:43 PM
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daver852
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There are some people who seem to live a charmed life. I live in Springfield, IL, a small city of about 120,000 people. Our Superintendent of Schools is a man named Dr. Walter Milton, Jr. He began his career in a small school district in upstate New York; he did such a terrible job that the state began an investigation of him. He resigned, and was promptly hired as Superintendent of Schools is Flint, MI. While there, he bankrupted the school system and was found guilty of numerous acts of malfeasance (including hiring a convicted child molester as a consultant at a salary of $120K a year). So he resigned, and the idiots on our school board promptly hired him, signing him to a five-year, $1.2 million contract. He has now bankrupted our school system, test scores are falling, and the entire system is in chaos. They not only hired him, they spent something like $70,000 to hire a consulting firm to find the "most qualified" candidate for the job, and this man was the best they could come up with. It's not only depressing, it's amazing. Only in government can such incompetence be so rewarded.
Reply #317. Sep 20 11, 8:17 PM
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paulmallon
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Chicago politics...business as usual (I lived there 8 years)
Reply #318. Sep 20 11, 8:23 PM
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daver852
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The ink is barely dry on the Solyndra scandal (in which our government flushed half a billion of the taxpayers' money down the toilet), and it has been announced that the Department of Energy has given a $737 million dollar loan to Tonopah Solar, which just happens to be owned by Nancy Pelosi's brother-in-law. It is supposed to create a whopping 45 "green energy" jobs. I would like to announce the formation of my own carbon offset company. Send me $10,000 and I'll plant a tree for you.
Reply #319. Sep 29 11, 6:41 AM
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| lesley153
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Send me £2000 and I'll plant a tomato in your name.
Reply #320. Oct 01 11, 1:16 PM
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