Former MP Elliot Morley has pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to two counts of false accounting. Simon Clements, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said:
“Elliot Morley has today admitted his dishonesty. In doing so, he has accepted that his repeated and fraudulent claims for one mortgage that had been paid off and his excessive claims for another were not legitimate in any way. Mr Morley had claimed he was unaware the mortgage had been paid off. For most of us, paying off the mortgage is a red letter day and members of the public have found it difficult to comprehend his explanation that he was not aware that had happened.
“The Parliamentary expenses system exists to assist the public’s representatives in carrying out their duties, but Mr Morley used it to line his own pockets with just over £30,000 – more than an average household’s annual income. Such behaviour is blatantly dishonest and cannot be excused.”
Background
• False accounting is an offence under Section 17 of the Theft Act 1968. The maximum sentence is seven years in the Crown Court.
• The total amount falsely claimed was £30,428.
• Count 1 - False accounting, contrary to section 17(1)(b) of the Theft Act 1968
ELLIOT MORLEY, between 2 May 2004 and 15 May 2006, dishonestly, with a view to gain for himself or with intent to cause loss to another, in furnishing information for the purpose of making allowance claims produced or made use of documents required for an accounting purpose, namely 19 Form ACA2 claim forms, which to his knowledge were or may have been misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular, in that they stated he was paying £800 per month in mortgage interest, when in fact he was paying a lesser amount.
• Count 2 - False accounting, contrary to section 17(1)(b) of the Theft Act 1968
ELLIOT MORLEY, between 13 May 2006 and 28 November 2007, dishonestly, with a view to gain for himself or with intent to cause loss to another, in furnishing information for the purpose of making allowance claims produced or made use of documents required for an accounting purpose, namely 21 Form ACA2 claim forms, which to his knowledge were or may have been misleading, false or deceptive in a material particular, in that they stated he was paying £800 per month in mortgage interest, when in fact the mortgage had been redeemed, and he was therefore paying no mortgage interest.
