Dennis MacShane pleads guilty to expenses fraud

After four years of investigations, parliamentary investigations, a party suspension (which was later lifted), a resignation and a by-election, Dennis MacShane has pleaded guilty to expenses fraud today. Sky News reports that:

Parliamentary authorities began scrutinising his claims for laptops and “translation services” in 2009. The matter was referred to police within months after they found evidence of potential criminal activity.

However, detectives were not given access to letters between MacShane and the standards commissioner because of parliamentary privilege – the long-standing principle that MPs should be able to carry out their duties without outside interference. The correspondence finally emerged last November when the cross-party standards committee published a report and recommended MacShane be suspended from the House of Commons for 12 months.

The Metropolitan Police, which had said it was taking no further action, then re-opened its investigation. Charges for false accounting, which relate to 19 receipts filed between 2005 and 2008, were brought in July, even though the letters are not thought to be admissible in court.

Appearing at the Old Bailey, a judge told MacShane, who was the Minister for Europe under Tony Blair, that “all sentencing options remain open”. MacShane, who previously said he regretted his “foolishness”, has insisted he did not make any personal gain from the claims.

MacShane is the latest in a list of Labour MPs to have shamed the party by ending up in court over questionable expenses.