Fitting that he is an RSPCA Vice president who also have a a criminal record - perverting the course of justice. Read it
MPs' expenses: The charges against Labour MP Elliot Morley
The former environment minister Elliot Morley has been accused of “dishonestly” claiming thousands of pounds for a mortgage that did not exist.
By Holly Watt
Published: 7:00AM GMT 06 Feb 2010
The Labour MP allegedly over-claimed £14,438 for the mortgage on his constituency home between April 2004 and February 2006 and received a further £16,000 between March 2006 and November 2007, although the mortgage had been paid off.
Mr Morley claimed £800 a month to cover the mortgage on his Scunthorpe home. However, the cost of the mortgage even before it was paid off was only around £150 a month.
In order to put together the case against Mr Morley, the police asked for evidence from both his bank and officials from the House of Commons. However, when he was invited to a police interview, Mr Morley would only give a one-line statement saying that he would like to help the police with their enquiries, but was unable to because of Parliament privilege.
Three MPs have been charged and are all represented by the solicitor Gerald Shamash of Steel & Shamash.
The fees office, which handled the paperwork for the MPs claims, repeatedly requested that Mr Morley proved the existence of the mortgage. However, at the end of 2007, Mr Morley “flipped” the designation of his second home and began claiming allowances on a house he owned in London.
Although Mr Morley had been claiming the second home allowance on his house in Scunthorpe, the London property was rented out to a fellow Labour MP Ian Cawsey.
Mr Morley, 57, has been the MP for Scunthorpe for 23 years. Along with David Chaytor and Jim Devine, he has been barred from standing as a Labour MP at the next election. He employs his wife, Patricia, as a part-time secretary, meaning that she will be entitled to a pension and redundancy money from taxpayer funds when her husband steps down at the general election.
Mr Morley was a special needs teacher before he was elected to Parliament and has a long-standing interest in climate change and the environment.
Name: Elliot Morley
Age: 57
Title: Labour MP
Charges: Two counts of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968
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