Labour Peer In New Expenses Row
The Sunday Times today published another revealing article about expenses claims in the House of Lords - the full piece can be read on-line at - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ - but here's a summary of the key points.
"Baroness Uddin caught in second expenses row
THE Labour peer Baroness Uddin may face a fresh fraud inquiry following the discovery of a second “home” address which she used to claim £91,000 expenses.
Uddin claimed the home of her brother and his family in the Essex resort of Frinton-on-Sea was her main residence. Last week his wife said she could “not recollect” the Labour peer ever living there.
Uddin is already being investigated by the police for claiming expenses of £98,000 for an almost empty flat in Maidstone, Kent, which she said was her main residence from October 2005.
She claimed a total of £189,000 from the House of Lords by saying her main places of residence since 2001 have been outside the capital when, in reality, she has lived in the same London house with her family since the early 1990s.
It has now emerged that her claims for the previous four-year period, up to 2005, before she bought the Maidstone flat, may also have been misleading. Uddin has steadfastly refused to disclose the address she was claiming to have lived at during that time.
House of Lords records show she claimed more than £20,000 a year between 2001 and 2005 for the address — but did not even reveal in the Lords expenses registers which county the property was in.
Peers who genuinely live outside the M25 boundary are entitled to claim a daily rate — now £174 — to help them with accommodation in London while attending the Lords.
Uddin refused to answer our repeated inquiries about the address. When her former solicitors were asked last year whether the property existed, they issued a statement on her behalf avoiding the question.
However, The Sunday Times finally obtained the address last week. Her “main home” turned out to be a place that she neither owned, rented, nor, according to her sister-in-law, ever lived in.
The large, detached house near the beach at Frinton-on- Sea belongs to her brother, Mukit Rivhu Khan, an IT expert for a multinational company. He bought the house with his wife, Toni Hayhow-Khan, in 1999 and they have lived there ever since with their three children.
Hayhow-Khan, a former teacher, appeared to know nothing of Uddin’s financial arrangement regarding her home. When asked whether Uddin had ever lived at the property, Hayhow-Khan replied: “Not that I can recollect.”
When told that Uddin had been telling the Lords it was her main home for four years, Hayhow-Khan could only comment: “It’s a mystery to me.”
Neighbours around the property also dismissed the notion that Uddin could have been living there. Calculations based on her travel expense claims to the property suggest she was making up to 30 trips a year to Frinton-on-Sea.
While Uddin is an unfamiliar figure to her neighbours in either of her Essex and Kent “main homes”, she is well known in Tower Hamlets where she is frequently spotted in her BMW car.
The home, just four miles from the Lords, is a housing association property. She pays £500 a month in rent while claiming £2,000 a month from the Lords for living in London. Her husband also owns a holiday mansion in Bangladesh.
Uddin is one of five peers being investigated by the police. The others are Lord Paul, Lord Clarke of Hampstead, Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor of Warwick."
"Baroness Uddin caught in second expenses row
THE Labour peer Baroness Uddin may face a fresh fraud inquiry following the discovery of a second “home” address which she used to claim £91,000 expenses.
Uddin claimed the home of her brother and his family in the Essex resort of Frinton-on-Sea was her main residence. Last week his wife said she could “not recollect” the Labour peer ever living there.
Uddin is already being investigated by the police for claiming expenses of £98,000 for an almost empty flat in Maidstone, Kent, which she said was her main residence from October 2005.
She claimed a total of £189,000 from the House of Lords by saying her main places of residence since 2001 have been outside the capital when, in reality, she has lived in the same London house with her family since the early 1990s.
It has now emerged that her claims for the previous four-year period, up to 2005, before she bought the Maidstone flat, may also have been misleading. Uddin has steadfastly refused to disclose the address she was claiming to have lived at during that time.
House of Lords records show she claimed more than £20,000 a year between 2001 and 2005 for the address — but did not even reveal in the Lords expenses registers which county the property was in.
Peers who genuinely live outside the M25 boundary are entitled to claim a daily rate — now £174 — to help them with accommodation in London while attending the Lords.
Uddin refused to answer our repeated inquiries about the address. When her former solicitors were asked last year whether the property existed, they issued a statement on her behalf avoiding the question.
However, The Sunday Times finally obtained the address last week. Her “main home” turned out to be a place that she neither owned, rented, nor, according to her sister-in-law, ever lived in.
The large, detached house near the beach at Frinton-on- Sea belongs to her brother, Mukit Rivhu Khan, an IT expert for a multinational company. He bought the house with his wife, Toni Hayhow-Khan, in 1999 and they have lived there ever since with their three children.
Hayhow-Khan, a former teacher, appeared to know nothing of Uddin’s financial arrangement regarding her home. When asked whether Uddin had ever lived at the property, Hayhow-Khan replied: “Not that I can recollect.”
When told that Uddin had been telling the Lords it was her main home for four years, Hayhow-Khan could only comment: “It’s a mystery to me.”
Neighbours around the property also dismissed the notion that Uddin could have been living there. Calculations based on her travel expense claims to the property suggest she was making up to 30 trips a year to Frinton-on-Sea.
While Uddin is an unfamiliar figure to her neighbours in either of her Essex and Kent “main homes”, she is well known in Tower Hamlets where she is frequently spotted in her BMW car.
The home, just four miles from the Lords, is a housing association property. She pays £500 a month in rent while claiming £2,000 a month from the Lords for living in London. Her husband also owns a holiday mansion in Bangladesh.
Uddin is one of five peers being investigated by the police. The others are Lord Paul, Lord Clarke of Hampstead, Lord Hanningfield and Lord Taylor of Warwick."
