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New expenses charges 'would not change' decision to clear Malik
Nicholas Cecil, Chief Political Correspondent12.06.09
Sleazebuster Sir Philip Mawer has said fresh allegations against Shahid Malik would not have altered his decision to clear him of wrongdoing.
Mr Malik, who stood down as justice minister last month, was reappointed this week as communities minister after Sir Philip, the Prime Minister's adviser on the ministerial code, found he had not benefited from below-market rents for his constituency home and office.
However, the Dewsbury MP faces fresh allegations in the Daily Telegraph that he used Commons expenses to rent an office in his constituency home, as well as having another office in the town.
Downing Street said Mr Malik's claims, like the expenses of all MPs, would be examined by a new independent panel.
But Sir Philip issued a statement last night saying that he had taken advice from a firm of independent surveyors to reach his conclusions.
"Their advice is that it is not uncommon for part of a property let on a residential rent to be used as an office, and that such use would have no material effect on the rental," he said.
"I therefore stand by my conclusion that there was no preferential rent and therefore no breach of the ministerial code."
Mr Malik could still face an inquiry by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, John Lyon, into his use of his expenses to reportedly rent the office in his home.
The MP said that he has "acted at all times within parliamentary rules".
Sir Philip's report also revealed that Mr Malik paid nearly half his rent in cash after moving to a new house last year.
The MP has argued that his first assumption was that he was being asked to pay £300 in cash, on top of the £320 by direct debit, to a fellow Muslim because it was a "matter of religious observance or a cultural norm".
Sir Philip said it was "unfortunate" that Mr Malik had not obtained a written rental agreement specifying the rent to be paid for the house in his Dewsbury constituency.
Gordon Brown has said that Mr Malik could still be disciplined if any improprieties are found in his expenses.
If Mr Malik was forced to stand down as a minister for a second time so swiftly, it would be a major embarrassment for the Prime Minister.
But Mr Brown said it was important that the new independent panel on expenses should give MPs a "clean bill of health" if they deserve it.
Some Labour and Tory backbenchers are angry at the way that their parties have been dishing out punishments for use of Commons allowances.
Reader views (14)
Paid in cash to avoid VAT no doubt. But greedy and dumb enough to try to claim the whole amount on his expenses. That's called a conspiracy to defraud the Inland Revenue.
- Ethan, UK
Mawer is an incompetent idiot, every man and his dog can see that Malik was troughing it up for every penny the parasitic worm could get! What will it actually take for something to be done about these crooks? Any ordinary person would be facing charges by now. Malik is not fit to hold public office yet in the cabinet of crooks and unelected Lords he is just another grasping fraudster who will get away with stealing public money because he is an MP. How can Mawer not see the bleeding obvious and how can the liar Brown even have the audacity to talk of transparency in politics when he is as usual doing everything to obstruct the truth coming out about this crook!
- Ed, Hants
You are all the same aren't you. If an enquiry doesn't come up with the result you wanted, it must be either wrong, or a whitewash. And the highly respected, independent person who undertook the enquiry, and sought advice from a firm of independent surveyors in order to make sure his findings were correct, must be either crooked, useless, or in Gordon Brown's pocket. You really are like dogs with a bone. Why can't you just accept that Mr Malik is being hounded by the DT, who will not accept they have been peddling false information. He has been exonerated. Deal with it. Now let's have an enquiry about George Osborne's 'flipping' and £100,000 ACA claims. Oh no, I forgot, he's a Conservative and it's in the genes, so his behaviour is only what we are conditioned to expect.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain
So the new evidence would not have changed Philip Mawer's decision? Of course not as he had intended to find him innocent whatever evidence was put forward. I make that about Government whitewash 453 in the last 12yrs.
- Mark, London
Oh c'mon: you're not allowed to claim these things if you're a struggling little business - why should he? Sounds like the Sleazebuster needs a Sleazebuster. Or maybe just a plain, old-fashioned non-trendy-sounding criminal investigation.
Mind you, if that's the best Brown could muster for his closest mates, at least we're just counting down the hours and minutes . . .
- Roz, France
I hear on the grapevine that Hazel Blears has repaid some £13,000 of her expenses - but to whom? Back to the Government? Well, yes in a way. I understand she has paid the £13,000 back to the Inland Revenue who regard this as an overpayment in tax as the expenses are said to be "within the rules". They are, nevertheless outside a moral code which is what has prompted the repayment. All this does though is to give Miss Blears a tax credit for the next financial year of £13,000. Well done Hazel, you get the cash next year, not this!
- Simon, London, England
I have lost faith and respect for the work the sleazebuster Sir Philip Mawer has done. You do know the general public are still not satisfy with the government and Gordon Brown handling of the expense affair. This demonstrate that Gordon Brown would not and properly sort out the mess.
It does not make sense. I am sure if the evidence are published the creep have benefited from this fiddlings.
- Max, Isleworth
Funny how Mawer in 2004, ruled that David Blunkett, then the Home Secretary, breached MPs code of conduct by misusing two first-class rail tickets assigned to him for his work as an MP.
Yet he seems to think cash in hand payments from the public purse with no receipts is quite acceptable?
The Ministerial Code of Conduct was updated in 2007 by Gordon Brown. He encouraged ministers to take advice on the code from senior civil servants and Sir Philip Mawer, his personal adviser on the code and ministerial standards.
If Mawer declared Malik had breached that code I wonder if that would reflect badly on himself?
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
The words "transparent" and "Labour government" are mutually exclusive.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
THIEVES investigating THIEVES. What a joke. General election now.
- Vic, London
Sir Philip Mawer's report said that Malik paid the balance of his new rent in unreceipted cash because he had not altered his direct debit.
Thing is the payee on the direct debit need only apply for the increased figure. There is no need for a new mandate. No need for payments in unreceipted cash.
- Simon, derby
Dear old pals, jolly old pals...
- Bj, London
Sir Philip Mawer needs investigating at the highest level - preferably by the CPS.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe UK
The only way to get this odious creep's hands out of the till is to have a general election and kick him out of office. It was predictable that he would be found not guilty of wrongdoing by the so-called "enquiry" as all in-house enquiries are whitewashes. It is an insult to the intelligence of the electorate to expect us to believe that he paid "half his rent by direct debit and half in cash" without the evidence of receipts. The not guilty verdict raises questions about the integrity of Sir Philip Mawer.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
