Fraud or Oversight?

[Martin]

From: www.metro.co.uk

The spectre of Parliamentary expenses has reared its head over Westminster again with Cabinet minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi under pressure over reports she claimed expenses for overnight accommodation while staying with a friend.

The Labour Party and the former head of a sleaze watchdog have both called for a full investigation into the claims the Conservative Party co-chairman claimed Lords subsistence allowance of £165.50 a night for occasions she stayed at a property occupied by Tory official Naweed Khan in 2008.

She said she made an 'appropriate' payment to Mr Khan, who is now one of her aides, for staying in the house in Acton, west London, but the property's owner Dr Wafik Moustafa has said he received no income under the arrangement.

Commenting, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: 'At the moment it all looks very muddy and blurred and worthy of a full investigation.'

Labour MP John Mann said he would be writing to the Lords standards commissioner requesting an investigation.

'If you are paying no rent where you are staying, you can't possibly be claiming subsistence for staying there,' he said.

And shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna told BBC1's Sunday Politics show: 'To rebuild trust and demonstrate this is being dealt with in a proper way there has to be a proper, independent investigation.

'So long as these stories endure, we are going to struggle to rebuild the trust and confidence we need there to be between Westminster and the people it exists there to serve. That is incredibly important.'

Baroness Warsi has also admitted failing to declare rental income from her Wembley flat in the Lords register of interests.

She described the matter as an 'oversight' and said she had included it in the Register of Ministers' Interests and declared it to both the Cabinet Office and HM Revenue and Customs.

The peer said she had owned the flat since 2007, but began letting it in 2010 after moving closer to Westminster when she became a minister.

[Martin]

If it was a 'normal' person it would be fraud, because she is a Lord it's a oversight.

[orangekea]

Originally Posted by Martin

If it was a 'normal' person it would be fraud, because she is a Lord it's a oversight.

It sounds rather fishy to me, but perhaps the baroness has a perfectly innocent explanation?

[dr wu23]

A Conservative...that explains it, since a Labour party rep wouldn't
waste the people's money like that.

[Martin]

Originally Posted by dr wu23

A Conservative...that explains it, since a Labour party rep wouldn't
waste the people's money like that.

Yeah, they are all the same.