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Police charge Mayor's former deputy over alleged expenses misuse
Katharine Barney and Justin Davenport4 Sep 2009
Boris Johnson's disgraced deputy mayor Ian Clement was charged today over the alleged misuse of his expenses.
Scotland Yard announced that Mr Clement, 44, once one of the Mayor's most trusted lieutenants, had been charged with five counts of fraud. The charges relate to claims for meals on his corporate credit card.
He was charged at Holborn police station this morning and will appear at City of Westminster magistrates' court on Tuesday. He has not been arrested.
Mr Clement - who was forced to resign from his post in June - was first reprimanded for misusing his credit card last year when he upgraded himself on a flight to Beijing.
His card was confiscated by Mr Johnson after it was revealed the deputy mayor had been using it for personal expenditure on items such as groceries, a meal in a restaurant, and work on his car.
The Evening Standard then revealed how Mr Clement had lied about taking colleagues out for meals.
He claimed to have treated the leaders of Kensington and Chelsea and Barnet councils, Merrick Cockell and Mike Freer, but both denied any knowledge of the meals.
Instead, it is claimed, he was with his 23-year-old lover, Tory agent Claire Dowson, whom he met while working on the Mayor's election campaign.
Detectives from the Met's Economic and Specialist Crime Command quizzed the Mayor's chief of staff, Sir Simon Milton, and chief spin-doctor, Guto Harri, as part of their investigation.
Bexley council also launched an investigation into Mr Clement's credit card use when he was council leader and ordered him to repay £2,000.
Mr Johnson initially stood by his deputy and refused his offer to resign - but was forced to act when it was revealed that he had lied.
Mr Clement was the third deputy mayor to quit since Mr Johnson took charge in May last year.
A spokeswoman for the Mayor said today: "The Met let us know about the charges out of courtesy so we are aware but it is now a matter for the police."
A senior source at City Hall said: "Boris rarely gets angry about anything but he was furious about this. He felt personally let down as he had really liked the guy."
A statement issued on behalf of Mr Clement by his lawyer Jeremy Summers of Russell Jones & Walker said: "Mr Clement is surprised and saddened that the CPS should have felt that prosecution was appropriate.
"He has co-operated fully with the investigation which relates to five meal expense claims which have a total value of £227.00.
"In the context of other, and far more significant, investigations it is a matter of regret that political expediency appears to be present."
Mr Clement was brought on board during the mayoral campaign by Mr Johnson's press officer, Katie Perrior, a Bexley councillor.
Reader views (2)
Ian Clement must pay the price for his dishonesty. I now look forward to reading that the Police have pursued those MP's who have committed far more serious offences than Mr Clement with the same determination and that those MP's will soon appear "in the dock" for their "crimes" - Or will someone in Westminster or Whitehall "lean" on the Police in an attempt to get them to come up with "there is insufficient evidence to proceed further" or "it is not in the public interest to continue with our enquiries" - What's the betting ?
- John 2 London, Bexleyheath, Kent, 09/09/2009 14:44
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EDITED by admin @ 16.19 on Sep 4 2009
Court proceedings
- R Wright, Acton England, 04/09/2009 16:11
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