Last week, Inspector Knacker of the Yard announced that the Met police are finally to investigate some of the fraudulent expense claims made by MPs.
As I write this, precisely nothing has been done; no MPs have been arrested , no offices have been raided, no IT equipment seized, no nothing. This is also about a month after the Torygraph started exposing MPs' astonishing troughing.
Now contrast this with the Damien Green debacle, where the opposition MP was arrested after having his office raided by 6 Met coppers (without a warrant, of course).
Now of course Damien Green was not alleged to have stolen a fortune off of the taxpayer, he was alleged to have leaked documents to the press that were very embarrassing to the government. Much worse. Get in there plod!
If we compare the incredibly zealous and fast-acting police action taken against Green with the complete inaction of the Met with regards to the thieving cheating MPs, I think it paints a good picture of how the police view the taxpayer as opposed to their political masters.
What really worries me, is that the police can't see the difference in these two cases, or why the public were outraged with Green getting done-over by the Labour party's paramilitary wing, but were pissed off with the very same police 'service' happily turning a blind eye to MPs stealing from the public purse. The normally semi-sensible Inspector Gadget just couldn't get his head around it. In that post he boasts about how the police have heroically tackled that nasty Green, but up until the Met's announcement he and his fellow plods were absolutely adamant that no MPs should face action for their fraud.
Hmmmm, there must be a bit of work involved in those fraud investigations....
That worries me.
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The increasing politicalisation of the police is worrying *them*, which I think has something to do with their dismally slow response here...
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the day, if I fiddled expenses at work, I'd be fired, and then in all likelyhood prosecuted.
"Honourable" my flatulent arse cheeks!
Martin
The reason for the difference?
ReplyDeleteGenerally speaking when I arrest someone I like to have some evidence. That usually has to be a little bit stronger than an article published in a newspaper, particularly when it is a complex fraud enquiry
Watch this space....
The Damian Green raids came towards the end of the evidence gathering phase.
As for police commentators being adamant that no fraud has been committed - well the vast majority of the morally reprehensible actions of the MP's would not be sufficient to obtain a conviction. We don't make the law but we know how it works.
The few that have claimed for example - paid off mortgages - have got questions to answer - but even then it is by no means certain that prosecutions will result.
Tag,
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, if the police were interested in investigating in the early stages of the Telegraph's exposee, I'm sure had they asked the paper for the evidence they would have been provided with it.
True, it would have to be coorborated with the House, but you know what I mean...
It will be interesting to see what eventually happens with this - a lot of people are of the opinion that nothing will. If the police have the balls to see this through, they might win back a little respect.
A lot of people think that the police are the "system's" heavy mob. This could be a time to show them this isn't the case.
Martin
It won't be about police "balls". It will be about whether there is sufficient evidence for a reasonable chance of conviction.
ReplyDeleteGiven the shoddy and lax rules under which expenses were legitimately claimed, the numerous accepted rule bending that appears to have gone on in correspondence between the MP's and the Fees Office, the complex machinations of MP's accounts, as well as their access to the best lawyers then this evidential test may be difficult to pass.
As usual the police will get the blame though.