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1540 Hrs GMT
Thursday
21 October 2010
Expenses: peers expenses cheats ‘were victims of racism’
Three Asian peers suspended from Parliament after cheating the taxpayer out of tens of thousands of pounds in wrongly claimed expenses are the victims of ‘racism,’ a Labour lord has alleged.
Lord Alli said that it “could not escape your attention” that the only peers who had been subjected to a full sleaze probe over their expenses were Asian.
He was speaking as peers debated whether to suspend Labour’s Baroness Uddin and Lord Paul, and Lord Bhatia, a cross bencher.
A formal sleaze inquiry this week found that they wrongly claimed a total of nearly £200,000 by deliberately registering properties they rarely or never stayed in as their “main home,” making them eligible for lucrative parliamentary overnight allowances.
The Lords Conduct and Privileges Committee recommended that Lady Uddin, who has failed to apologise or repay £125,000 in illegitimately claimed expenses, be barred from Parliament until April 2012 – the harshest punishment handed out to a peer since the 17th century.
Lord Bhatia, who has repaid £27,000, was suspended for eight months, and Lord Paul, who returned £42,000, for four months.
The Committee ruled that Lady Uddin and Lord Bhatia had not acted in good faith, but that while Lord Paul, one of the richest men in the country, was “grossly irresponsible and negligent,” he had not been “dishonest”.
During the debate, Lord Alli, a multi-millionaire media entrepreneur and, argued that the suspensions should not be imposed because the peers were the victim of racial bias.
Saying that he was not accusing the committee itself of racism, he went on: “But it cannot have escaped your attention that the only three members of the House who were referred to the Committee for Privileges and Conduct and subsequently investigated under these procedures were all Asian.
"In the rush to apologise for the expense system for which we should all be embarrassed, it should not be at the cost of justice or fairness for all regardless of race."
As he sat down, Baroness Flather, a cross bencher of Indian origin, said that she was “sad” that the peers involved in cheating their expenses had all been of Asian origin, and attacked the three over their claims.
Criticising Lord Paul for statements he made in which he claimed he did not understand the term “main residence” as it was not part of his “culture,” she added: "I want to say how distressing it is for me personally to find the 80th richest man, Lord Paul, saying that he didn't understand what 'main' and 'residence' meant.
"All of us know what they mean. And if we don't, may I suggest that we should not be sitting in this chamber.
“Lord Paul also says something about Indian culture. I don't know which Indian culture he is speaking of, I don't know of that culture.”
Lord Brabazon, who chaired the committee, denied any racism had been involved in the decision to launch formal investigations into the three.
He said that Lady Uddin and Lord Paul had been referred because they had been the subject of police investigations into their expenses, while Lord Bhatia had failed to provide “written assurances” to the Clerk of the Parliament that his allowances were in order.
He told Lord Alli: “I can give the noble Lord an absolute assurance that it was not in the least bit because the three peers were Asians.”
The House voted unanimously to confirm the committee’s recommendations, and the suspensions will begin immediately.
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