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Four due in court over expenses Four due in court over expenses
(about 1 hour later)
Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court later to face charges in relation to their Parliamentary expenses. Three Labour MPs and a Conservative peer are due in court to face charges related to their expenses claims.
Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, along with Lord Hanningfield, will deny false accounting when they appear before Westminster magistrates.Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor, along with Lord Hanningfield, will deny false accounting when they appear before Westminster magistrates.
All four deny the allegations and say they will defend themselves "robustly". Police began investigating after details of all MPs' expenses claims were leaked to a national newspaper.
The BBC understands Labour MP Harry Cohen is also being investigated by police over his expenses. The BBC understands Labour MP Harry Cohen is also being investigated over his expenses.
BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. But BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Mr Cohen, who is standing down at the election, was stripped of a £65,000 pay-off for retiring MPs after a "serious" breach of expenses rules. Rules breached
The police have not confirmed Mr Cohen is being investigated as part of its almost 10-month inquiry into expenses claimed by Parliamentarians and it is not known what the inquiry relates to or what stage it is at. Mr Cohen has already been reprimanded for his second home expenses claims after a separate inquiry by the parliamentary standards commissioner.
They have said only that a "small number of cases remain subject to consideration by a joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service assessment panel or are subject to continuing investigation". He is standing down at the general election but has been told he will not get a "resettlement grant" paid to retiring MPs - which in his case would have been worth about £65,000 - after breaching expenses rules.
Labour MP Harry Cohen is stepping down at the electionLabour MP Harry Cohen is stepping down at the election
Mr Cohen apologised to Parliament last month after he was criticised for claiming more than £70,000 in second home allowances for a property in his constituency at a time his designated main home was being let out for long periods. The Leyton and Wanstead MP had claimed more than £70,000 for a "second home" in his constituency - which is within greater London - while at times renting out his "main home" in Colchester.
A report by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner found that the second home "could not be regarded as his home for the purpose of claiming parliamentary allowances" as he was not living there. Mr Cohen was ordered to apologise to Parliament - he had argued his wife's serious illness had meant they had to spend more time in the constituency.
As an MP from an outer London constituency, the report said he should instead have claimed a London supplement that would have entitled him to £9,000 over the same period. Police have not named him as one of the "small number of cases" which are still either being considered by a joint police-CPS panel or being investigated.
'Wife's illness'
Consequently, the report concluded that Mr Cohen received more than £60,000 in public money "to which he was not entitled".
The Standards and Privileges Committee, which has the power to recommend sanctions for MPs over their expenses, said the breach was particularly serious and involved a large sum of public money.
It said it had "sympathy" for the MP because his wife had been battling serious illness while the MP said his circumstances were unusual because his wife's illness required them to spend more time in the constituency.
Mr Cohen argued he had always designated it as his main home and there were periods when it was not let and he was living there.
Mr Morley, Mr Devine, Mr Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court after being charged with false accounting last month in relations to their expenses claims.Mr Morley, Mr Devine, Mr Chaytor and Lord Hanningfield will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court after being charged with false accounting last month in relations to their expenses claims.
The four face charges of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. If found guilty they face a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment.The four face charges of false accounting under section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. If found guilty they face a maximum sentence of seven years' imprisonment.
At the time charges were brought, the three MPs said they "totally refute any charges that we have committed an offence".At the time charges were brought, the three MPs said they "totally refute any charges that we have committed an offence".