[Iran Press TV Latest] Four British lawmakers facing criminal charges over their expense claims are arguing that they are above the law, while some of their colleagues have yet to repay taxpayers' money. The four MPs, three from the ruling Labour party and one from the opposition Tories, have stated that parliamentary privileges protect them from the law, reports said on Saturday.
However, Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said he was charging Elliot Morley, David Chaytor, and Jim Devine under the Theft Act 1968. If convicted, each faces up to seven years in jail.
The accused face charges of false accounting but say they are innocent and are pressing to have their expenses claims handled by parliamentary authorities.
Lord Hanningfield, the Tory (Conservative) peer and leader of Essex County Council, faces six charges. Last year, a Daily Mail report said he had withdrawn £100,000 over seven years for staying in London despite living just 46 miles from the capital.
Hanningfield quit his post as the council's leader and stepped down as a Tory frontbencher but denies the charges.
Starmer said Saturday that Hanningfield had "dishonestly submitted claims for expenses to which he knew he was not entitled."
On Thursday, as many as 390 current and former British MPs were ordered to repay a total of more than one million pounds in undue claimed expenses.
Last year, a leaked document detailing the MPs' claims showed that a great number of British parliamentarians, and some ministers, had claimed large sums for their personal expenses from public funds.
The scandal has sullied the reputation of the country's three main parties, but some of the MPs have claimed the overdrafts were due to accounting "mistakes."