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Brown backs Malik as expenses row grows
Gordon Brown has given his qualified backing to under-fire Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik.
The PM insisted that an independent investigation had found that Mr Malik's housing arrangements had not breached the ministerial code.
However, he did not rule out further action if any impropriety was found in his expenses in the ongoing examination of all MPs' claims.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, has received a complaint regarding Mr Malik from the Sunlight Centre for Open Politics expressing concern over the lack of written documentation to support the MP's office expense claims. It will be examined to see whether another formal inquiry is justified.
Mr Malik returned to the Government as a junior communities minister this week after he was cleared by Sir Philip Mawer, the Prime Minister's adviser on ministerial interests, of any breach of the ministerial code of conduct following an investigation into his finances.
Sir Philip said that he was satisfied that Mr Malik had been charged a commercial rent on two properties in his constituency. He had originally rented one property for 320 a month for three-and-a-half years until the end of May 2008. He then moved into the larger property next door for a monthly rent of 620. Sir Philip was concerned at how payments were made on the second house.
Mr Malik had been unable to produce receipts or a rental agreement to back up his claims over the rent of that constituency home.
Mr Malik released a statement to the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday night detailing how he claimed 46 a week from his allowances for "additional office space", which was below living accommodation in Dewsbury.
He said: "The additional office space which was the whole of the ground floor was fully equipped with parliamentary internet connection, risograph, desks, phones and computer equipment. The upstairs was living accommodation."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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