Stock Market Investing - Ben Chapman's Expenses Inflated to Cover Non-Existent Mortgage Element
Officials at the House of Commons allowed MPs to make inflated claims on their mortgages. (Isn't that fraud ? - Ed. ). This would all be farcical if it wasn't so disgusting.
(Rumour has it that some MPs have been claiming for a second trough)
Parliamentary authorities secretly allowed some MPs to over-claim for thousands of pounds in mortgage interest in deals that resulted in widespread abuse of the expenses system, paid for by us poor sods.
Ben Chapman Labour MP for Wirral South has admitted that he repaid £295,000 from his mortgage in 2002, but was allowed by House of Commons officials presided over by Michael Martin the speaker to continue claiming expenses for the whole of his mortgage for another 10 months. He reduced his mortgage payments from £1,900 to £400 per month but explained to the fees office that this was a great burden to him as in his own words “By paying off capital I am forgoing interest and investment opportunities elsewhere.”
The official therefore accepted that “the mortgage should remain for ACA (Additional Costs Allowance) purposes at the original amount”.
This meant that Chapman received £15,000 for the part of his mortgage which he had already paid off. Is it true ? "It may be I don't know" Chapman said to the BBC. But he has also been reported as having said he would not give the money back as it had been approved by the fees office.
Permission to put in claims for “phantom” mortgage payments was offered to a number of MPs before 2004. It was ended after officials acknowledged it should never have been allowed.
The revelations concerning Mr Chapman come on the heels of the revelations about Labour MPs Elliot Morley and David Chaytor. They both made claims for non-existent mortgages but said the claims were an oversight. Both face police investigations.
There is the possibility that the problem may be far more extensive and could lead to criminal proceedings.
Lawyers say that just because Parliamentary rules allow an arrangment it doesn't mean it is legal.
An email sent by senior officials reveals that this case is not unique. “…I have heard similar arrangements being agreed to in the past,” one said. “Personally, I do not believe that such an arrangement should ever have been suggested.”
More MPs Expenses
The Daily Telegraph has also revealed that large numbers of everyday household items are are being for MPs’ second homes, but are then delivered to their main homes. This is not allowed by the rules but the fees office rarely questions the arrangement.Today’s files from the Daily Telegraph show that:
Madeleine Moon, Labour, furniture worth thousands of pounds was delivered to Wales although she designated her second home as a London flat;
Ed Vaizey, Conservative and key ally of David Cameron, furniture worth £2,000 was delivered to his London home when his designated second home is in Oxfordshire;
Ian McCartney, erstwhile Labour Party chairman, spent £16,000 decorating and furnishing his second home but after the High Court decided that expenses claims would be published, he paid it back.
There is clearly a difference between claims that were within the rules but were just tacky, disgusting and a way for MPs to line their pockets at our expense; clais that clearly bent the rules on second home allowances, once again to line MPs pockets; and claims that were fraudulent. Hopefully we will see some criminal prosecutions being brought.
And what about Gordon Brown's expenses ? Not much has been said about them at all since we learned that his brother does his house cleaning but see last year's expenses here - Gordon Brown's Expenses
Home : Online Stock Trading
0 comments:
Post a Comment