David Chaytor and the phantom £13,000 mortgage claim.

Another grasping hoon MP....
David Chaytor, the second MP to be named as having made illegitimate mortgage claims, said that he had made an “unforgivable error”.
He faces a criminal inquiry into his expenses and is likely to be suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party. Mr Chaytor’s statement is the frankest admission of wrongdoing by an MP since The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into the parliamentary expenses system began. The scandal continued to have serious ramifications in Westminster.
The Telegraph has established that between September, 2005, and August. 2006, Mr Chaytor claimed £1,175 a month for mortgage interest on a Westminster flat. However, Land Registry records show that the mortgage on the flat had already been paid off in January 2004.
When asked about the claim, Mr Chaytor apologised “unreservedly”.

“In respect of mortgage interest payments, there has been an unforgivable error in my accounting procedures for which I apologise unreservedly,” he said in a statement. “I will act immediately to ensure repayment is made to the fees office.” Lawyers said that his claims, which were similar to those made by Elliot Morley, the former environment minister, could constitute a criminal offence under the 2006 Fraud Act and the 1968 Theft Act.

The MP for Bury North has some of the most controversial arrangements of any parliamentarian examined by the Telegraph over the past nine days. Since 2004, he has claimed for five different properties, “flipping” his designated second home between London, Yorkshire and Bury. He claimed for one home where his son was the named occupant on council tax bills.

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