this was supposed to remain a secret! On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 12:16 PM, Sandwichman <[email protected]> wrote: > by Caroline Gammell 12:10PM GMT 10 Feb 2011 > > When the former Foreign Secretary died suddenly in August 2005, Devine found > himself nominated and elected as the Labour MP for Livingston, West Lothian, > within a month. > > The divorced 57-year-old divided his life between Scotland and Westminster, > buying a one bedroom flat in Elephant and Castle, south east London, to make > parliamentary life easier. > > He also employed several researchers and an office manager in his Scottish > office as he became increasingly accustomed to life as an MP. > > Devine was also introduced to the parliamentary system of expenses, whereby > costs incurred on a second home, his office and travel could all be claimed > back. > > However, in 2008, he decided to take these expenses one step further. > > With a personal bank account permanently in debt, he decided to make use of > a blank receipt given to him by his pub landlord Tom O’Donnell, who also ran > a cleaning company. > > Mr O’Donnell had provided the services of Larissa, a Polish cleaner, to help > Devine keep his flat tidy and iron his clothes. > > To reclaim the money he had legitimately spent, Devine asked Mr O’Donnell > for a receipt, which was duly provided, in blank form. > > This gave Devine an idea and over the following year he submitted a further > three – but this time fraudulent – receipts in the name of Mr O’Donnell to > the House of Commons Fees Office. > > Between July 2008 and May 2009, the amounts varied from £180 to £2,160 as > Devine grew increasingly confident that his plan was fool-proof. > > Each receipt, bearing a VAT number and signed “with thanks” was promptly > paid by the Fees Office, making a total of £2,880 However, Mr O’Donnell had > no idea money was being claimed in his name and was somewhat surprised to > hear of their existence. > > When approached by the police, he immediately went to Devine who told him > the officers were probably journalists and not to worry. > > Devine then advised his friend not to speak to the police. He even went as > far as blaming his former secretary Marion Kinley, whom he had fallen out > with spectacularly. > > The MP claimed she had forged his signature on the form – a difficult act > for her to do considering she had left his employment in the autumn of 2008. > > In court, he went on to claim that he had a second Polish cleaner – also, by > sheer coincidence, called Larissa – who cleaned for him. She came to his > flat accompanied by her boyfriend Arthur and her brother Tony. To keep > things simply, they used the blank receipts Devine said had been left by Mr > O’Donnell. > > Strangely, none of the three could be traced as they had returned to Poland, > the MP said. > > When Devine was asked to produce evidence of Larissa’s mobile phone number > stored in his phone, he claimed he had thrown the phone away. > > But the MP’s dishonesty did not end there. > > Between March and April 2009, he submitted two claims for printing costs > amounting to £5,505 as part of his office expenses. > > Again, they appeared legitimate receipts from Armstrong Printers Limited, > both scrawled with “received with thanks”. > > Again, they were not what they seemed. > > For Devine had contacted Armstrong Printers to ask them to write out the > receipts as a favour. > > Initially hesitant, the company eventually agreed in the belief that the > work would be forth-coming. It never came. > > When the money was paid into his account in two installments, it was first > time he had gone into the black for two years. > > Justifying his actions in court, Devine said he had used the money to pay a > member of staff in his Scottish office, known only as Miss X. > > The costs were for the time she spent monitoring the media, he claimed. > > However, he refused to name her as he said he had discovered she was > claiming benefits at the same time and he did not want to get her in > trouble. > > "My dad was a minet - you don't grass," he said. > > He also claimed Miss X had given him receipts for the work she carried out – > but he had shredded them. > > Devine’s seven hours in the witness box did little to convince the jury at > Southwark Crown Court. > > They returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of false accounting on two > counts and cleared him of one. > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > >
-- Jim Devine / "Living a life of quiet desperation -- but always with style!" _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
