From The Times
May 20, 2010
Labour MP Eric Illsley is fifth to be charged with fraud over expenses
David Brown
(Ian Nicholson/PA)
The charges Eric Illsley face relate to bills including council tax
A Labour MP was told yesterday that he will be the fifth politician to be charged with fraudulently claiming parliamentary expenses.
Eric Illsley, the MP for Barnsley Central, is alleged to have falsely claimed more than £20,000 over three years for expenses on his second home in Kennington, South London.
Mr Illsley, 55, won his seat, which has held since 1987, with a majority of 11,093 at the general election.
He will face three counts of false accounting when he appears at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 17.
The charges relate to claims for council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges between May 2005 and April 2008.
Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “Having thoroughly reviewed a file of evidence we received from the Metropolitan Police on 13 March this year, we concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to bring criminal charges against Eric Illsley.”
The Labour Party suspended Mr Illsley after the charges were announced.
A party spokesman said: “Eric Illsley has been suspended from the Whip and cannot attend any Labour Party meeting. This was felt necessary in light of the criminal charges.”
The others politicians charged with expenses fraud — the former Labour MPs Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley and the Tory peer Lord Hanningfield — will claim they are protected by Parliamentary privilege.
The Crown Prosecution Service is considering one further case, reported to be Harry Cohen, the former Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead.
Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, said:: “I’m very sad that another Member of Parliament is going before the courts but that’s what needs to happen if the public prosecutor, the CPS, decides that this is a criminal issue. It’s right that it proceeds to court.”
He said that Mr Illsley and the other politicians facing charges were “innocent until proven guilty”.
“It is a hangover from last year, not something new, that’s part of the same expenses scandal that was so appalling, so depressing,” he added.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7130621.ece
Eric Illsley, the MP for Barnsley Central, is alleged to have falsely claimed more than £20,000 over three years for expenses on his second home in Kennington, South London.
Mr Illsley, 55, won his seat, which has held since 1987, with a majority of 11,093 at the general election.
He will face three counts of false accounting when he appears at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 17.
The charges relate to claims for council tax, service and maintenance charges, repairs and insurance charges, and utilities and communications charges between May 2005 and April 2008.
Keir Starmer QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “Having thoroughly reviewed a file of evidence we received from the Metropolitan Police on 13 March this year, we concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to bring criminal charges against Eric Illsley.”
The Labour Party suspended Mr Illsley after the charges were announced.
A party spokesman said: “Eric Illsley has been suspended from the Whip and cannot attend any Labour Party meeting. This was felt necessary in light of the criminal charges.”
The others politicians charged with expenses fraud — the former Labour MPs Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley and the Tory peer Lord Hanningfield — will claim they are protected by Parliamentary privilege.
The Crown Prosecution Service is considering one further case, reported to be Harry Cohen, the former Labour MP for Leyton and Wanstead.
Alan Johnson, the former home secretary, said:: “I’m very sad that another Member of Parliament is going before the courts but that’s what needs to happen if the public prosecutor, the CPS, decides that this is a criminal issue. It’s right that it proceeds to court.”
He said that Mr Illsley and the other politicians facing charges were “innocent until proven guilty”.
“It is a hangover from last year, not something new, that’s part of the same expenses scandal that was so appalling, so depressing,” he added.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article7130621.ece
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