Shahid Malik, his house and the slum landlord: MPs' expensesSince being elected in 2005, Mr Malik has claimed the maximum amount allowable for a second home, amounting to £66,827 over three years. Last year, he claimed £23,083 from the taxpayer for his London town house, equivalent to £443 per week. The Telegraph can disclose that the “main home” for which Mr Malik pays out of his own pocket - a three-bedroom house in his constituency of Dewsbury, West Yorks - has been secured at a discounted rent of less than £100 per week from a local landlord who was fined for letting an “uninhabitable” house.
Mr Malik also rents a constituency office from the same businessman, Tahir Zaman.
Mr Malik’s arrangement means he pays below market rent for his main home while billing taxpayers thousands for his second home in London. His second home claims have included £2,600 for a home cinema system — which was cut in half by officials — and £65 for a court summons for not paying council tax.
Neither Mr Malik nor Mr Zaman would say last night whether they had signed a formal agreement for the lease of the constituency house, although Mr Zaman said the rent was below the market rate. The landlord’s wife said the house appeared to be occupied by a constituency worker during the week.
The case of Mr Malik’s
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, faced similar allegations after she was shown to have claimed her family home in Redditch as her second house.
However, the Home Secretary said she had always paid rent to her sister at a commercial rate.
As a minister, she also said she spent the majority of her time in London.
Mr Malik’s arrangements relating to his constituency home will also raise questions as to whether a minister could be beholden to a businessman who offers him discounted rent. Mr Zaman lives next door to Mr Malik’s home in Dewsbury. Mr Zaman and Mr Malik also have a rental agreement relating to the constituency office in a nearby shopping parade. Mr Malik claims for the cost of renting his office from parliamentary office allowances.
Yesterday, following a week of disclosures about MPs’ expenses by The Daily Telegraph, Elliot Morley, the former minister, was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party and Andrew Mackay lost his job as David Cameron’s aide.
Today, details of claims made by married MPs are disclosed. A former Cabinet minister is also exposed for over-claiming more than £8,000 on her mortgage.
Mr Malik bought a home in Peckham in 2001 for £85,000 — four years before he became an MP. After being elected to Parliament in 2005, he nominated the property as his “second home” and began claiming the maximum amount available in parliamentary expenses.
During the first year as an MP, he made 13 separate claims for different items of furniture or electrical appliances totalling more than £7,000. The fees office blocked several items and he eventually received £6,147. He also regularly claimed the maximum allowable £400 a month for food.
The most contentious item was a £2,600 home cinema system including a 40in flat-screen television. The fees office paid half, after initially rejecting the claim.
It blocked claims for a portable DVD player and an iPod during the same year.
The spending on the Peckham house continued during 2007-08, with 24 separate claims for furniture, decorating and electrical goods. These included a £671 fireplace, a leather daybed sofa and a £510 fitted wardrobe.
Mr Malik was also reimbursed for a £730 “massage chair”. Last night, the MP said he had a “back problem”.
The Justice Minister said he would repay the £65 he claimed for his non-payment of council tax courts summons.
In total, in three years, Mr Malik claimed £66,827 for the property - £18,173 less than the original cost of the house.
However, the spending on his “second” London home stands in stark contrast to the cut-price arrangements for his constituency property.
Mr Malik’s landlord last night told The Daily Telegraph: “He is definitely paying well under the market value rent.”
When asked if Mr Malik paid £100 a week, Mr Zaman said: “I’m renting [out] the next door [property], [it’s] half the size of his property, they pay me more rent than what he’s paying me.”
In 2005 Mr Zaman pleaded guilty to letting a house to a family of five despite a council enforcement order classing building as “uninhabitable”.
He was fined £450 and ordered to pay £200 costs.
Mr Zaman receives more than £4,000 annually from Mr Malik in office rent. The money is funded from a separate system of parliamentary expenses.
The landlord’s wife who lives in a neighbouring property said that Mr Malik only used the property at weekends and a member of his staff stayed there during the week.
“He [Mr Malik] is a good friend and neighbour,” she said. “He comes here just at the weekends... Usually he comes here alone.”
Mrs Zaman said a constituency worker she knew only as Paul occupied the house during the week.
Yesterday, when asked whether someone stayed in the property during the week, Mr Malik would only say: “I am happy to confirm that I do not rent it out or derive any income from it.” Last night, in a statement issued by Mr Malik he strongly denied wrongdoing.
He said: “Dewsbury has been my home since 2004 when I moved there a year prior to becoming the MP. Overall I spend the majority of my time in Dewsbury because, although I spent half the week in London when Parliament is in session I spend most of recess at my main home in Dewsbury.
“The vast majority of my costs [on the London house] have gone on food, insurance, council tax, gas, electricity, security and mortgage interest.
“All these costs are regarded as basic essentials in terms of the ACA [expenses system].”
He also said his rejected claims had been a misunderstanding.
He said: “With hindsight of course I would have acted differently on these items but as a new MP, with a Green Book that was full of subjective rules and a guidance team that knew the limits for items, but chose not to share them with MPs, it was inevitable that almost every MP would have items questioned at some point.”
Shahid Malik
Job: junior minister at the Ministry of Justice
Salary: £95,617
Total second
home claims
2004-05: N/A
2005-06: £21,634
2006-07: £22,110
2007-08: £23,083
BREAKING NEWS: Shahid Malik "stepping down" as justice minister
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5329136/Shahid-Malik-resigns-as-Justice-Minister-over-MPs-expenses.html
20 comments:
I put it to all nationalists that a complaint to all our police stations must now be made and the arrests of all the MP's demanded, and legal action brought by the CP.
ALL THOSE IN FAVOUR?
Someone should break the dirty pakis back and send the fucker home to his paki slum.
Aye to the above. We should ask the BNP to run a petition to be handed to the police. They'd get thousands of signatures that by law could not be ignored.
That fucking paki cunt is also top of the list with Gerry Gable.
The true face of a communist IRA supporting ugly greedy bitch
Clare Short
Job: Independent Labour MP
Salary: £64,766
Total second home claims
2004-05: £20,902
2005-06: £15,249
2006-07: £17,780
2007-08: £14,420
HERE HERE!!!
That fucking paki cunt is also top of the list with Gerry Gable.
Little birdies are starting to whisper about where Searchlights money REALLY comes from. I think a lot of Labour MPs are going to curl up and die. We're still waiting to hear about the corrption of Crudd'ASS
NO PAKI SHOULD BE AN MP. NO PAKI SHOULD BE IN BRITAIN. GET THE FILTHY SHIT OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.
Aye to the above. We should ask the BNP to run a petition to be handed to the police.
Agree with that.
COPS GUARD GREEDY MPS
Terrified MPs were forced into hiding last night as hate mobs launched violent attacks on politicians at the heart of the expenses scandal.
Thugs lobbed bricks through Tory Julie Kirkbride’s constituency office window after her fellow MP husband Andrew MacKay quit after milking the second homes allowance.
And police were called into protect former Labour minister Elliot Morley from protesters after he was suspended from the party for claiming £16,000 for a mortgage he had already paid.
Mr Morley could be quizzed by fraud officers and Whitehall insiders are expecting more revelations involving Gordon Brown’s senior Cabinet
MPs' expenses: Ancient right for anyone to be a prosecutor
The statue of the Lady Justice atop the Old Bailey building in London: Common law allows us to be a private prosecutor
Under ancient common law, an individual has a right to bring a criminal to justice in the courts if the state authorities fail to do so.
Private prosecutions are expensive, difficult to organise and involve producing a high level of proof to persuade a court that an accused can be found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
But, occasionally, in cases of public scandal, they are effective in bringing great wrongdoing to light.
And if a private prosecution acquires momentum, then the Crown Prosecution Service may step in to put the legal action on to an official basis.
A private prosecution is brought when members of the public feel let down by the police or the CPS when apparently criminal behaviour is allowed to pass without investigation.
Scotland Yard is showing no inclination to involve its officers at Westminster in pursuit of what looks to the public like blatant instances of fraud.
Fraud carries a maximum sentence of ten years jail and - or - an unlimited fine.
False accounting carries a maximum sentence of seven years.
A private prosecution begins in a magistrates court. It can be brought by anyone who wants to see an act of injustice righted.
They do not need to be the victim. A magistrate is, at the first stage, asked for a summons against the accused to answer the charge.
More...If the authorities won't put sleaze MPs in court, the Mail will - with a campaign for private prosecutions
The court will ask for evidence of the crime. If the prosecution is to proceed, the case will be sent to a Crown Court for a jury trial.
Several eventualities could prevent that happening in the MPs' expenses case.
One possibility is that Commons authorities could rule that the matter falls within the bounds of Parliamentary privilege and may not be tried in the courts.
Any such ruling would risk stoking up even greater public anger.
Commons authorities would also be asked to make evidence of expenses claims available.
They have already promised to publish basic information in June.
But they may still try to withold vital information that has so far been regarded as private, in particular vital material about addresses used by MPs.
There might also be a move to ask a High Court judge rather than a magistrate to rule on whether a private prosecution attempt can go to a full trial.
Postal workers refuse to deliver BNP leaflets
Postal workers are refusing to deliver British National Party election leaflets because they object to its “right-wing rubbish”.
About 100 workers in the West Country have told union leaders that they will not carry the leaflets, which bear an anti-immigration message.
They have accused Royal Mail chiefs in Bristol and Somerset of “bullying”, with one office allegedly threatening workers with dismissal if they do not comply.
The Communication Workers Union says that Royal Mail is breaking a “conscience clause” agreed four years ago that allows staff to refuse to deliver literature they find offensive.
Harman: Expenses row could benefit BNP
BNP hides its skinheads to woo voters
Dave Wilshire, spokesman for the Bristol and District Branch of the CWU, said: “Over the past 48 hours I’ve had around 32 calls from individual members and those speaking on behalf of groups, saying they don’t want to deliver the material.
“That is fair enough. The clause says members don’t have to deliver material if they feel threatened or if it is against their personal beliefs.
“In Bristol we have the St Paul’s area which has a very high density of those from ethnic backgrounds. Anyone being expected to post BNP stuff through there is going to feel at risk.
“Managers in Bristol are effectively bullying people.”
He added that it was “outrageous” that some had been threatened with losing their jobs.
One postman working in the Fishponds area of Bristol, said that his route bordered two ethnic-minority areas and it was “concerning” to be made to deliver inflammatory material.
He told the Western Daily Press: “We are being forced by management to give out the BNP material even though it’s against my beliefs — everyone knows what they stand for.
“We are being made to dish out this rubbish. I’ve read the BNP literature and although there isn’t anything racist or fascist on it, it does say ‘No to immigration’.”
Workers were asked to start delivering the material this week ahead of the European elections next month.
Simon Darby, BNP spokesman, said: “We have a contract with the Royal Mail to deliver some 29 million BNP leaflets. Some will be binned by Labour-supporting postmen who want to corrupt the democratic process, but it is a question of cutting that down.
“People will make up their own minds about the Communication Workers Union telling people what to do. This is the sort of thing that is happening in Zimbabwe.”
Royal Mail said: “Where possible we will try to be flexible and sensitive to individual personal circumstances or beliefs.
“However, we need to balance this with Royal Mail’s legal obligations under the Representation of the People Act, to deliver election material.”
A police community support officer has been suspended after being arrested over allegations of domestic violence.
Police took action after colleagues of Nigerian-born Esiri Natufe threatened to refuse to accompany him on security patrols in central London. Female colleagues in particular were said to be angry that the PCSO has claimed to officials that his wife is possessed by a “Juju” witchcraft spell.
Mr Natufe was arrested on 2 May but it has taken two weeks before police took the decision to suspend him.
Mr Natufe, who has been a PCSO for four years, is said to believe that his wife is under the influence of a Voodoo-type spell.
Now police in his home borough of Southwark are understood to be pressing ahead with a prosecution.The Met's domestic violence policy is to pursue alleged abusers even without the alleged victim's consent.
LMAO.
Latest News "MIND CONTROL CENTRES"
More than 60 hate crime reporting centres now open (Tameside)
Victims of hate crime no longer have to go to police stations to report their experience, but can instead visit one of more than 60 hate crime reporting centres across Tameside.
They are located in public buildings such as community centres, council offices and libraries and are designed to provide an informal environment for members of minority communities who may not want to visit a police station to report incidents they have experienced or concerns they have.
All centres contain staff trained to deal with third party reports in a manner that will ease any apprehension.
The centres will help officers devise strategies to prevent and deter hate crime offenders and reduce the chances of people becoming repeat victims. They can also offer support and advice and act as a link between victims and the police.
Chief Inspector Steve McFarlane said: “Third party reporting centres take away the need for a victim to visit a police station or have an officer visit their home. The ability to go to a building such as a community centre to speak to someone provides a much more relaxed environment for them to report any incidents or concerns they may have in regards to hate crime.
“The centres are another example of how the police can work with the local community and I am sure they will help us achieve our aim of increasing the reporting of hate crime in Tameside and assist with the prevention and detection of this crime.
“We will not tolerate hate crime in Tameside and will act robustly to identify those responsible and ensure they are brought to justice.”
Hate crime is defined as any criminal offence committed against a person or property that is motivated by an offender’s hatred towards someone because of their race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality or national origins, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability.
List of hate crime reporting centres.
Location, Contact Address, Telephone No.
Tameside Advice Service
TMBC Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 3008/9
TMBC Town Hall, Market Street, Denton 0161 342 3572/3
TMBC The Concord Suite, Manchester Road, Droylsden 0161 342 3570/1
TMBC Town Hall, King Street, Dukinfield 0161 342 3391
TMBC Town Hall, Market Street, Hyde 0161 342 3576/7
TMBC George Lawton Hall, Stamford Street, Mossley 0161 342 3580
TMBC The Court House, Market Place, Mottram 0161 342 3581
TMBC Old Central School, Waterloo Road, Stalybridge 0161 342 3578/9
TMBC Community Safety Unit Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 8355
TMBC Council Offices Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 8355
Tameside Policy & Equality Unit Council Offices, Wellington Road, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 3148
Tameside Patrollers HQ Town Hall Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 3525
Patrollers offices Various locations across borough 0161 342 3070
Licensing Authority (taxis) Ash Road, Droylsden 0161 301 1345
ALL COUNCILLORS 57 Throughout ALL 19 Tameside’s wards Various see TMBC website local press etc
Libraries
Central (Ashton Under Lyne) Old street, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 330 2151
Hyde Branch Union Street, Hyde 0161 342 4450
Newton Branch Talbot Road, Hyde 0161 366 0290
Dukinfield Branch Concord Way, Dukinfield, 0161 330 3257
Hurst Cross Branch Hurst Cross, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 330 3750
Stalybridge Branch Trinity Street, Stalybridge 0161 338 2708
Droylsden Branch Manchester Road, Droylsden. 0161 370 1282
Denton Branch Peel street, Denton 0161 320 3202
Mottram Branch Broadbottom Road, Mottram 01457 764144
Mossley Branch Wyre Street, Mossley 01457 832467
Audenshaw Branch Ryecroft Hall, Audenshaw 0161 370 4315
Police
All Police Stations Across Greater Manchester 0161 872 5050 or 999
Tameside Victim Support and Witness Service 62 Turner Lane, AUL 0161 339 1190
Tameside Equality & Diversity Centre (TREC) 20 Warrington Street,Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 343 3399
Age Concern 131 Katherine Street, AUL 0161 308 5000
Citizens Advice Bureau 9 George Street, AUL 0161 330 2156
Housing Options 119-125 Old Street, AUL 0161 331 2700
Tameside 3SC St Michaels Court, Stamford St,Ashton Under Lyne 0161 339 4985
MIND now TOPAZMind body and soul 216-8 Katherine Street, AUL 0161 330 9223
Youth Offending Team 31 Clarence Arcade, Stamford Street, AUL 0161 342 7680
Probation Service Francis Thompson Drive, AUL 0161 330 3695
Probation Service 2 Simpson Street, Hyde 0161 366 7344
People First (advocacy service) Suite 10 St Michaels Court. Stamford St, AUL 0161 308 3699
ChoicE 159 Stamford Street, AUL 0161 344 2027
Groundwork Crowthorn Road AUL 0161 342 6767
Deaf Centre 225 Mossley Road, AUL 0161 330 4019Minicom 0161 342 3602
Blind Centre 4 Wellington Parade, Dukinfield 0161 330 7778
Tameside Voice St Michaels Court, Stamford StAshton-under-Lyne 0161 339 4985
Health Clinic AUL Crickets Lane, AUL 0161 339 9940
Fairfield Children’s Centre Fairfield Road, DroylsdenM43 6AF 0161 371 9289
Housing Associations
New Charter HousingHead office 249 Cavendish Street, AUL 0161 331 2000
AUL, New Charter Housing 2 Henrietta Street, AUL 0161 331 2000
Denton, New Charter Housing 9 Albert Street, Denton 0161 331 2000
Stalybridge New Charter Housing 63/65 Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge 0161 331 2000
Hyde, New Charter Housing 12/14 Clarendon Street, Hyde 0161 331 2000
Ashton Pioneer Homes West End, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 342 3644
Peak Valley Housing 100 Hattersley Road East, Hattersely, 0845 602 1120
Irwell Valley Housing 6-8 Tatton Road, Haughton Green, 0161 611 0011
Community
Hattersley Community centre Hattersley Arcade, Hattersley 0161 368 8513
Haughton Green centre Tatton Road, Haughton Green 0161 320 3510
Oxford Park Community & Sports Centre Pottinger Street, AUL 0161 830 0508
Holy Trinity Community Centre Dean street, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 308 2902
Indian Community Centre 103 Union Road, Ashton-under-Lyne 0161 330 2085
Fairfield youth & Community Centre Grove Street, Droylsden 0161 370 1383
Young Peoples CentreDenton Duke Street, Denton 0161 366 6615
Out Loud LGBT youth c/o lisa.mathews@tameside.gov.uk 0161 366 6615
Bangladesh Welfare Ass 19 Chapel Street, Hyde 0161 368 5092
Bangladesh Welfare Ass 95 Burlington Street, AUL 0161 308 3510
Tameside Asian Elders c/o Albion Church, Stamford St EastAshton-under-Lyne 0161 343 4681
Hattersley Neighbourhood Partnership 10-13 Kingston Arcade, Hattersley 0161 368 2096
Tameside Homewatch Various schemes across borough 0161 856 9566
Taxi Firms Various companies across the borough Various
TAFWA Tameside African Families Welfare Association 30 Dowson Road, Hyde 0781731494107915297606
TARA Tameside AfricanRefugee Association 124 Stamford street, AUL 0161 330 6696
West Villa. Community day Centre, supportingMental health / learning disabilities West Villa, West St, Dukinfield 0161 339 2985
Gay Minister Ben Bradshaw tells PinkNews.co.uk that Daily Telegraph's expenses expose was 'homophobic'
TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEEEEEEEEEE and a TEEHEEE
"Shahid Malik resigns as Justice Minister: full statement"
1 down 3million to go
DEMOCRACY AT WORK!
Say no to BNP urge Liverpool Euro rivals
A MEETING of rival prospective MEPS at Liverpool’s Bluecoat centre urged members of the public not to vote for the British National Party (BNP).
Politicians from the Green Party, UK Independence Party, ‘No to EU’ party and the Jury Team gathered for a public debate organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union and attended by about twenty members of the public.
All agreed that the electorate must not vote for the right wing BNP, who were banned from the debate on the night.
Green candidate Peter Craney said: “The BNP has been able to grow because New Labour walked away from the people they were elected to look after.
“Immigrants did not cause the credit crunch and they did not fiddle the banking system.”
TURN UP AND MAKE UP THE NUMBERS OR FACE THE SACK!!
Liverpool is a ‘Homotopia’ says anti homophobia coalition
May 15 2009 Liverpool Echo
Recommend GAY arts festival Homotopia is to launch a “coalition” effort against homophobia.
Coinciding with International Day Against Homophobia on Sunday, the partnership includes Police, Fire and Rescue Service, Merseyside Probation Trust, Liverpool Citysafe, The Armistead Project, GYRO and Kensington Regeneration.
On Wednesday, young people will plant pansies in memory of murdered gay teenager Michael Causer, from Huyton. Homotopia Director Gary Everett said: “With partners coming on board daily, this coalition is uniting Merseyside.”
UKIP the JOKE PARTY!!
Sole Member of Parliament, Bob Spink, has been exposed as a parliamentary expenses trough feeder like all other parties’ MPs, with an impressive expenses claim of £140,987 over and above his ordinary salary.
Mr Spink, the living embodiment of the “corrupt Conservatives in camouflage” UKIP, joined that party after defecting from the Tories.
Mr Spink, who is still listed on the UKIP website as an “enthusiastic member and supporter of UKIP,” last year took home a delightful £23,083 in housing allowances, £13,356 in office allowances, £82,472 in staffing allowances (nearly one of the largest such “staffing” expenses of all MPs, making one wonder what huge staff this single MP employs), £1,005 on “central stationery,” £4,845 on IT provision, £1,148 on staff cover and £9,017 on travel (he obviously travels a lot).
The previous year, Mr Spink put in an even more impressive claim of in excess of £152,000, meaning that in two years he has claimed nearly a third of a million pounds from the taxpayers over his MP’s salary.
His latest £140,987 claim makes him one of the nation’s top trough feeders, a mere £9,000 below the expenses claim of the leader of the opposition, David Cameron. UKIP’s Mr Spink must be an important man.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage and his fellow MEPs have set the standard, however. They have consistently refused to publish their European parliamentary expenses, an act of extreme hypocrisy given the fact that their party makes much of the failure of the European Union to sign off its annual accounts.
There are also many simmering scandals within UKIP. Numerous questions hover over that party’s Ashford Call Centre, where 90 percent of supporters’ funds disappeared into a black hole.
Worse, there remain the pressing questions in relation to Mr Farage’s own South East region, where hundreds of thousands of pounds — the bulk of its turnover — disappeared in what was mysteriously ascribed to “other costs” between 2004 and 2005.
UKIP MEP Tom Wise was recently arrested for “making a false instrument, obtaining money by deception by transfer, and converting criminal property.” He is currently on police bail awaiting trial for claiming a salary for a female “researcher” and then spending the money on a sports car.
The reality is that the UKIP parrot is as dead today as it has been since its leaders were first caught out fiddling their expenses, breaking their promises to their members, refusing to have their expenses audited and employing cheap Polish scab labour to renovate their country mansions.
The only reason why they are now being boosted is because Mr Farage is on record as saying that the “best way to defeat the BNP was to vote UKIP.”
To prove his non-British credentials, Mr Farage has pointed to his five black and Asian candidates despite that party’s policy being one of supposedly opposing immigration.
It seems as if Mr Farage and UKIP don’t want Britain to be overrun by Europe, but have no problem with Third World immigration - a most peculiar contradiction.
* The BNP has undertaken to subject all elected MEPs to full and transparent audits, and to donate ten percent of each elected MEP’s pre-tax salary to cultural events and institutions in their regions, such as St George’s Day events or other national saints’ days.
UKIP: Corrupt Conservatives in camouflage.
The time has come for change.
UKIP: Corrupt Conservatives in camouflage.
'The BNP has undertaken to subject all elected MEPs to full and transparent audits'
A start could be made with the BNP's own accounts which the auditors would not sign off.
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