NOVANEWS
Denis MacShane. Picture: PA
- by MARTYN MCLAUGHLIN
DISGRACED former Labour minister Denis MacShane has been jailed for six months after admitting making bogus expense claims.
The ex-MP was sentenced this morning at the Old Bailey after admitting making bogus expense claims amounting to nearly £13,000.
The 65-year-old previously pleaded guilty to false accounting by filing 19 fake receipts for “research and translation” services.
MacShane used the money to fund a series of trips to Europe, including one to judge a literary competition in Paris.
His guilty plea followed more than four years of scrutiny into his use of House of Commons allowances.
Parliamentary authorities began looking at his claims in 2009 when the wider scandal engulfed Westminster, and referred him to Scotland Yard within months.
But the principle of parliamentary privilege meant detectives were not given access to damning correspondence with the standards commissioner – in which MacShane detailed how signatures on receipts from the European Policy Institute (EPI) had been faked.
The body was controlled by MacShane and the general manager’s signature was not genuine. One missive, dated October 2009, told how he drew funds from the EPI so he could serve on a book judging panel in Paris.
It was not until after police dropped the case last year that the cross-party Standards Committee published the evidence in a report that recommended an unprecedented 12-month suspension from the House.
MacShane, who served as Europe minister under Tony Blair, resigned as MP for Rotherham last November before the punishment could be imposed.
Police then reopened their probe in the light of the fresh information and he was charged in May – even though the letters are still not thought to be admissible in court.
The ex-MP was sentenced this morning at the Old Bailey after admitting making bogus expense claims amounting to nearly £13,000.
The 65-year-old previously pleaded guilty to false accounting by filing 19 fake receipts for “research and translation” services.
MacShane used the money to fund a series of trips to Europe, including one to judge a literary competition in Paris.
His guilty plea followed more than four years of scrutiny into his use of House of Commons allowances.
Parliamentary authorities began looking at his claims in 2009 when the wider scandal engulfed Westminster, and referred him to Scotland Yard within months.
But the principle of parliamentary privilege meant detectives were not given access to damning correspondence with the standards commissioner – in which MacShane detailed how signatures on receipts from the European Policy Institute (EPI) had been faked.
The body was controlled by MacShane and the general manager’s signature was not genuine. One missive, dated October 2009, told how he drew funds from the EPI so he could serve on a book judging panel in Paris.
It was not until after police dropped the case last year that the cross-party Standards Committee published the evidence in a report that recommended an unprecedented 12-month suspension from the House.
MacShane, who served as Europe minister under Tony Blair, resigned as MP for Rotherham last November before the punishment could be imposed.
Police then reopened their probe in the light of the fresh information and he was charged in May – even though the letters are still not thought to be admissible in court.
