Ex MP gets his porridge

RoundyMooney

From here. (Quoted below for mobile users).

I put this here to allow a freer exchange of views.

So, my question is this; How is it that this grubby little grabber can face the rigours of the law, and our own home grown fiddlers get off scot free?

Some examples of those who have faced expenses/payment controversy, and in one or two cases, outright allegations of fraud, Callelly, O Donoghue, Harney, Healy Rae, Haughey, Burke, Ahern, Gormley, Olwyn Enright/Joe McHugh, etc.

Why have these people not been forced to account for themselves, and for that matter, why are all TDs and senators allowed to claim for unvouched expenses under a certain threshold?

Given that three of the highest six claimants in the Seanad last year were FG people, one or two of which are mooted for cabinet positions next time if they get in, I think it's a fair comment that we're in for more of the same. (I posted this question to Enda Kenny on Facebook, but he unsurprisingly didn't provide an answer).

Geldof was right back in 1980 when he referred to us as a Banana Republic.

Disgraced former MP David Chaytor was today jailed for 18 months for making false Parliamentary expenses claims.

Chaytor, 61, was locked up after pleading guilty to three counts of false accounting.

Mitigating, James Sturman QC had earlier begged for him to be spared a prison sentence, claiming his client was a 'broken man'.

Southwark Crown Court heard he submitted bogus invoices to support claims totalling £22,650 for IT consultancy work and renting homes in London and his Bury North constituency.

But the properties were owned by him and his mother, and he did not pay out any of his own money.

It is understood Chaytor will be taken to Wandsworth Prison in South-West London.

Mark Leech, editor of Converse, the national newspaper for prisoners, said the former MP should expect 'to find himself in a prison reception that is cramped, cold and busy - with up to 200 prisoners being processed each day'.

'Like all others who come with him he will be strip-searched, photographed, fingerprinted, showered, placed on a Bodily Orifice Scanner to ensure he is not concealing contraband, before being issued with prison clothing and a prison number and then left to consider his future in a reception cubicle holding around 20 others,' he said.

Prisoners normally serve half their sentence before they are considered for parole. In Chaytor's case this means he could be out in nine months, providing he has a record of good behaviour while inside.

On release he would then have to report regularly to his probation officer for the remainder of his sentence.

Chaytor, of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty last month to three counts of false accounting between November 2005 and January 2008.

The case heaps yet more embarrassment on politicians whose public standing has plummeted ever since details of their lavish expense claims emerged 18 months ago.

Other fraud trials are expected to go ahead in the coming months, with two other former MPs, one current MP and two peers facing criminal charges. All have pleaded not guilty.

And the Mail can reveal that Scotland Yard has not ruled out charging more politicians with fraud.

It emerged in court today that Chaytor is facing a large bill for both his defence and the costs of bringing the prosecution against him.