In risposta all’ amico Rosario, “rubygate e il conflitto” I will say no more…
Picture of a broken man: The guilty MP who would not own up to fiddling expenses and …is sent to jail
He shamefully refused to admit to fiddling his expenses.
But yesterday a jury took little more than two hours to condemn Jim Devine as a liar and find him guilty of plundering thousands from the taxpayer.
The former Labour MP faces jail after becoming the fourth parliamentarian to be convicted of falsely claiming allowances.
Devine looked shocked as the verdicts were delivered at Southwark Crown Court, in central London. He was found guilty of two counts of false accounting, by submitting bogus invoices for cleaning and printing work totalling £8,385.
He was cleared of a third count, relating to a further £360 of cleaning work.
Devine follows ex-Labour MPs David Chaytor and Eric Illsley – who both pleaded guilty – and Lord Taylor of Warwick, who pleaded innocent and stood trial as a peer, in being convicted of cheating the taxpayer.
No more 'golden goodbye'?
A judge may effectively strip cheating former MPs of their ‘golden goodbye’ pay-offs.
The Commons Speaker has so far refused to ban shamed ex-MPs from applying for resettlement grants that help those who lose their seats adjust to life after Parliament.
But remarks by Mr Justice Saunders yesterday will pile pressure on John Bercow to declare that MPs convicted of pilfering taxpayers’ cash should be cut adrift without the payments of up to £64,000.
Mr Bercow has said he would decide after the criminal trials had finished.
But Mr Justice Saunders demanded to know if MPs would receive the money.
It is thought he may take it into account in deciding whether to award legal aid.
Mr Bercow’s spokesman said none of the convicted ex-MPs had applied for the grants.
The former union firebrand is also an adulterer, a convicted drink-driver and a self-proclaimed lothario whose chat-up lines apparently included claiming to have been a sex therapist.
He even tried to wriggle out of taking the blame for cheating the taxpayer by laying a false trail to his blameless constituency office manager, Marion Kinley.
But his claim she had ‘paid herself’ £1,000 overtime and a bonus of £4,300, was exposed as a fabrication when she took him to an employment tribunal.
The tribunal sided with Miss Kinley, awarding her £35,000 compensation, which Devine has yet to pay.
In the interests of a fair trial, the jury was told none of this. Miss Kinley used to chauffeur Devine around in her car.
Even though he did not own a car himself, he claimed more than £10,000 in mileage, handing her just £60. She described her former boss a ‘habitual liar’ and ‘a desperate man’.
During his career, Devine seems to have earned himself more enemies than most. One former rival recently posted him a greetings card, the words on the front reading, ‘If you can’t win…’ and on the inside, ‘…Just cheat!’.
A miner’s son, Devine was born in Blackburn and trained as a psychiatric nurse, becoming a Unison steward, chairman of the Scottish Labour Party, then election agent to former foreign secretary Robin Cook.
When Mr Cook died, he took over as the MP in Cook’s Livingston constituency in Scotland at a 2005 by-election.
In his maiden speech to the House of Commons, Devine declared that ‘dishonesty alienates voters’.
Believing himself to be a ladies man, he was soon accused of following blonde Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries into a Commons cloakroom telling her in ‘disgusting’ detail about a dream he had involving her.
He was deselected at the last election.
Devine continued to protest his innocence from the witness box. At one point, prosecutor Peter Wright QC asked: ‘Mr Devine, are you just making this up as you go along?’
Devine submitted £8,385 worth of false expenses between 2008 and 2009, backed up with seven bogus invoices. He also created two false invoices totalling £5,505 for stationery.
Devine, 57, of Bathgate, West Lothian, tried to plead he was effectively owed the money as he had previously paid two cleaners at London flat without realising he was entitled to claim their fees on expenses – and was therefore out of pocket.
He will be sentenced next month.
…and another cheating politician is sent to jail
On the verge of tears, the first sitting MP convicted of expenses fraud was led from the dock last night to begin a year-long prison sentence.
Carrying his belongings in a leather bag and his coat over his arm, Labour’s Eric Illsley was taken away to join murderers, muggers and rapists at London’s Wandsworth Prison.
Despite his conviction last month, Illsley clung on to his Barnsley Central seat until last Tuesday, quitting only after being jointly urged to go by David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Illsley, 55, had pleaded guilty to stealing £14,500 from the public purse.
His lawyer, William Coker, QC, told Southwark Crown Court: ‘These convictions have ruined him. But he says ruin is what he deserves – the publicity, humiliation and shame.’ He urged the judge to show leniency, claiming his client recognised the ‘public outrage’ facing him.
He even suggested the married father be given credit for not going as far as falsifying receipts – as other MPs did – but merely failed to produce any to back his fraudulent claims.
The married father’s three years of plundering averaged about £100 a week and he was able to siphon off taxpayers’ cash as, until the rules changed, MPs did not have to submit receipts for claims under £250.
When this was reduced to £25 in May 2008, Illsley’s expense claims decreased too. The former Barnsley MP had sent in ‘inflated’ claims for utilities, phone bills and council tax over the period.
At an earlier hearing, Illsley, of Pogmoor, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, admitted three counts of false accounting in relation to bogus claims amounting to £14,500 for his second home.
Illsley was born in a council house in Barnsley and has almost always lived in the former mining town.
He was an official with the National Union of Mineworkers, and was elected an MP in 1987. He was suspended from the Labour Party after being charged.
Sentencing him to 12 months, Mr Justice Saunders said: ‘It is vital that people feel able to trust our legislators and their use of public funds.
Rebuilding that trust is likely to be a long process.’ Last month, former Labour MP David Chaytor became the first person to be jailed over the expenses scandal after pleading guilty.
Sleaze watchdog calls for expenses reform
A Westminster sleaze watchdog has said the MP's expenses system must be reformed because it risks preventing those with families from becoming politicians.
The chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life said 'insufficient attention' had been given to making sure the system worked amid concerns to improve public confidence.
Sir Christopher Kelly's verdict came amid mounting anger at Westminster over the performance of the independent body set up to administer the regime in the wake of the pay and perks scandal.
But in a drive for transparency he said there was a risk that 'insufficient attention' had been given to the primary function of the expenses regime – supporting MPs in doing their 'important and difficult jobs'.
'The Committee has seen much anecdotal evidence – including from their own conversations with individual MPs – that the current scheme as presently constituted is not yet succeeding in fully meeting that objective, even allowing for inevitable teething difficulties,' he said.
'Ipsa have already made a number of important changes and we hope they will be prepared to make further changes where the evidence supports it.
'It would be a tragedy if the implementation of an expenses scheme were to have the effect of inadvertently and unnecessarily limiting access to the role of MP for those with young families, caring responsibilities or other challenging personal circumstances.'
MPs' wrath with the reformed system was further fuelled last week when Ipsa published the latest tranche of expenses, and named and shamed 125 MPs who had claims rejected.
Sir Christopher renewed his criticism of the decision – contrary to the recommendation of his committee – not to introduce an all-out ban on the employment of relatives.
Instead, MPs can still employ one 'connected party' out of taxpayers' cash.
'We continue to be concerned about the potential for abuse – perceived or otherwise – which this creates,' he said.
Ipsa should also re-examine the committee's favoured option of using an outside agency to find and maintain accommodation rather than leaving it to MPs themselves, he said.
Speaker John Bercow joined demands for reform of the tough new parliamentary expenses regime this week, insisting it was stopping MPs doing their jobs and damaging their family lives.
Commons Leader Sir George Young used his submission to warn that Ipsa was 'failing' to support MPs, while David Cameron has branded the rules 'anti-family' and indicated he could force changes.
Ever since its introduction, Ipsa has been targeted by MPs complaining about excessive running costs and bureaucratic restrictions on claims.
Sir Christopher told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the expenses system had been introduced in a 'hurry'.
He highlighted funding for second homes as one of the areas where reform was needed.
'No-one wants the situation in which MPs are able to maintain two complete family homes, one in their constituency and one in Westminster,' Sir Christopher said.
'But on the other hand you do want to make it possible for members with families or with disabilities or with caring responsibilities to have some semblance of another normal life while they are in both places.'
Da Mail Online
