Is it right to press criminal charges over MPs expences?

[withdeanwombat]

Absolutely nothing will happen in law.These underpaid civil servants have merely used the "rules" they have brought in themselves to boost their ridiculously low salaries.How were they to know that they would be so poorly rewarded for their 53 week 27 hour a day efforts? So,obviously,these expenses were just a self awarded off books bonus.So leave them alone - everyone has to live.

 

[BensGrandad]

If they have broken the law then yes. If they are merely exploiting the system then that is their prerogative. After all, plenty of people pay less tax because they work the system legally.

That is the correct answer.

Wasnt it Lord ??, was his name Vesty or similar, who owned Dewhurst Butchers and legally paid only £10 in a year for income tax by using the system.

 

[The Large One]

Bring on June the 4th and the next election.

Red herring.

What possible message could be sent out from the Euro elections towards MPs sitting in Westminster?

This isn't about Party Political skullduggery, or failed policies on a national scale, this is about individuals (albeit on a wide scale) abusing a self-regulating system from within Westminster.

 

[perseus]

If the Police won't protect them from the public they are meant to represent, they will have to claim for Minders.

Dialogue from the Winchester bar.

I go to Pomeroys meself.

 

[throbinson]

At the end of the day if i was able to claim expences and get away eith it i would, yes the system has been absued but who wouldn't. The ones at fault are those that made the expences policy and the ones not checking them

 

[Hannibal smith]

The bloke who was claiming for a mortgage that had already been paid off was quite clearly committing fraud. In cases like that, then yes thay should be prosecuted.

I like the way that some of them think "I made a mistake" is a valid excuse. If that is allowed now I think I might go a kill someone I don't like and use that as my defence

My gripe as well. A mistake is when you knock a cup of coffee over, spell something wrong or forget to set the alarm in the morning. It isn’t claiming 16K on a mortgage which has already been paid off. That should be referred to as stealing, lying, fraudulent and deceitful.

If I claimed 16K worth of unlawful expenses at my work I’d be sacked and taken away by the old bill. So should they.

 

[Collar Feeler]

Just because the claims are within the 'rules' it doesn't automatically follow that they are not criminally fraudulent. The fees office are not enforcing the law they are simply applying a set of in house rules and authorising or refusing payments. If you then apply the criminal law of the Fraud Act (or the Old Theft Act for deception for older claims) against some of these claims then they are looked into in a lot more depth and detail and may well be proven to be criminally fraudulent regardless of whether they were within the 'rules'.

Fraud by false representation states:

On 'date' at 'place' committed fraud in that you dishonestly made a false representation, namely 'SPECIFY THE FALSE REPRESENTATION' intending to make a gain, namely 'SPECIFY THE GAIN' for yourself.

That offence can still apply even if the claim was supposedly within the rules. The rules don't take account of the honesty or validity of the claim they simply look at the claim and say yes or no.

 

[Questions]

MP's..We were only acting within the rules.
SS guards...We were only obeying orders.

How you can compare one of the nastiest group of people - (dirty, coniving and downright evil and dangerous) who have ever walked this earth with the SS is beyond me.