Showing posts with label Tony McNulty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tony McNulty. Show all posts

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Tony McNulty claimed £2,000 accountancy bills

Mr McNulty also claimed £36,000 for paying rent for office space to his Harrow East constituency party

Documents also show that he ordered a list of postal voters in his Harrow constituency a year after the 2005 general election and then claimed the cost under his expenses . Last week, Mr McNulty repaid thousands of pounds he had "mistakenly" claimed on a house where his parents lived.

MPs are not allowed to offset the costs of hiring an accountant to help them fill in their annual tax return.

Under the Green Book rules, MPs are able to claim for "professional advice" from accountants, but it is not clear whether this should cover personal tax advice.

Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph show Mr McNulty submitted three bills totalling £2,009 from the accountancy firm HW Fisher for work "in preparation of your tax return".

On one of the invoices, the firm advised Mr McNulty on "arranging for deferment [sic] of Class 1 National Insurance contributions in respect of your ministerial salary for 2003-04 and 2004-05".

On another occasion, a senior tax manager at the firm told Mr McNulty "you will no doubt pass it [the firm's fee] to the fees office for settlement out of your Incidental Expenses Provision".

Other documents show he claimed for a £165 bill for the cost for a "copy of the marked polling register and marked list of postal/postal proxy voters for Harrow East" at the 2006 local elections. The Green Book states that MPs "must avoid any accusation . . . that public money is being diverted for the benefit of a political organisation".

Mr McNulty also claimed £36,000 for paying rent for office space to his Harrow East constituency party.

There have been concerns about public money being paid in rent to parties which can be funnelled into general accounts and used to fund canvassing and campaigning. Mr McNulty told The Daily Telegraph that he had now repaid the claim for the electoral register "and two other similar claims were erroneously allowed by the fees office''.

Mr McNulty's spokesman said he declared the accountancy fees "as benefit in kind and tax was paid at 40 per cent throughout the period referred to".

He added that "a full contract and independent evaluation of the value of the constituency office is lodged with the fees office in accordance with the rules".

Scotland Yard is considering whether to investigate Mr McNulty's expenses arrangements, and those of several other MPs.

Friday, 15 May 2009

Tony McNulty could face police investigation over MPs' expenses


Scotland Yard confirmed it was considering a complaint that Mr McNulty may have "obtained pecuniary advantage by deception".

In March it emerged that Mr McNulty had claimed around £60,000 from Commons allowances since 2002 towards maintaining a house where his parents lived.

He was able to receive the money because the property - which he owns - is in his Harrow constituency, just 11 miles from parliament.

The MP lives with his wife in her house three miles from Westminster, but insisted he had not broken any rules because he sometimes did work at the Harrow property.

However, he also told the Mail on Sunday in March that he had stopped claiming the second home allowance of up to £24,000 a year, and called for MPs who live within 60 miles of parliament to be banned from getting it.

The Commons voted last week to give members with Greater London constituencies a £7,500 annual "weighting" payment rather than letting them claim for second homes.

A police spokesman said tonight: "We have received a complaint from a member of the public and we are considering the allegation."