Two Labour MPs to face charges over expenses
Updated on 04 February 2010
Exclusive: Channel 4 News learns that two Labour MPs will face charges over their expenses claims when the Director of Public Prosecutions makes an announcement at 11am.
Channel 4 News understands that two Labour MPs will face charges tomorrow after files were handed to the Crown Prosecution Service following an investigation by Scotland Yard.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, QC, is expected to announce criminal charges this morning at 11am after six parliamentarians, including members of the House of Lords, were investigated over fraudulent claims.
It is believed that three Labour MPs, Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor, were under investigation over claims for expenses on mortgages that no longer existed.
In November four files were passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, followed by a further two files in December. No arrests have been made but its understood that some people have been interviewed under caution.
Lord Clarke of Hampstead, Labour Peer Lady Uddin and Conservative Peer Lord Hanningfield are also believed to have been investigated by the Metropolitan Police.
The news comes the day after Sir Thomas Legg, who carried out an audit of expenses claims, recommended that over 370 MPs pay back over £1.1m in total.
Channel 4 News political correspondent Cathy Newman writes -
This is the beginning of the end of the expenses saga.
When the Telegraph first started revealing its expenses dossier it was clear that some of the claims were so questionable they could lead to criminal proceedings.
The announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service is the final chapter in that long-running story.
But there are still some twists and turns before the denouement.
Some of the MPs being investigated are for example said to have suggested they are immune from prosecution because of parliamentary privilege.
Clearly the conclusion of the expenses debacle may take some time to play itself out.
