Sayeeda Warsi faces call for police inquiry over expenses
By Ubaid Mughal - May 28th, 2012 (No Comment)
London: The co-chairman of Britains Conservative Party Sayeeda Warsi was urged to resign yesterday following allegations that she claimed £165 a night in accommodation expenses while staying rent-free with a friend.
Former sleaze watchdog Sir Alistair Graham said she should stand down from her ministerial post while the very serious allegations were investigated.
Sir Alistair said that some peers have recently been jailed over similar allegations and suggested Sayeeda Warsis case may eventually have to be investigated by police.
Sayeeda Warsi, the first female Muslim Cabinet minister, acknowledged she had made a mistake in how she informed Britains upper house about a west London apartment she rented out, but rejected a report by The Sunday Times newspaper that she had claimed expenses for accommodation in London when she had stayed for free at a friends house, Business Week reported.
She said she claimed 165.50 pounds ($259) a night for staying at a house in Acton, west London, when she did not have a property of her own in London. Conservative party official Naweed Khan was staying at the house at the time and Warsi said she paid Khan for the nights she stayed there and then claimed the money back.
Khan confirmed to the Sunday Times that Warsi had paid him, but the owner of the house, one-time Conservative party donor Wafik Moustafa, told the paper Warsi had not paid for her stay.
The claims against Sayeeda Warsi are also a fresh setback for the House of Lords, which has been mired in sleaze allegations in recent years. Tory peers Lord Taylor of Warwick and Lord Hanningfield have both been jailed for falsely claiming accommodation expenses and several Labour peers have been ordered to repay tens of thousands of pounds.
The fresh allegations relate to a six-month period following Sayeeda Warsis appointment as a Tory peer in October 2007. Although she made arrangements to buy a new-build flat in Wembley, North-West London, it was not ready to move into until the spring of 2008, The Mail reports.
Sayeeda Warsi faces call for police inquiry over expenses | The News Tribe
There is more to come out over the next seven days