Aide’s £700 ‘fake claim’ for furniture
A MINISTERIAL aide faces the prospect of a police investigation after he was accused of forgery in a new Commons expenses row.
Chris Davies MP has been hit by claims he fabricated invoices for furniture and photographs to decorate his constituency office.
Mr Davies confessed last night to ‘a technical breach’ of expenses rules but denied trying to claim money to which he was not entitled.
The allegations have been referred to Scotland Yard by the compliance officer of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), which oversees MPs’ expenses.
Mr Davies, 50, is said to have forged two invoices adding up to £700 to get the claims past IPSA officials in early 2016, and of trying to get a member of his local association staff to submit one of the fake bills. A letter from Conservative Party HQ to Brecon and Radnorshire MP Mr Davies, seen by The Mail on Sunday, highlights the ‘seriousness of the allegations’.
In a summary of the accusations, it says: ‘It appears you were concerned the invoice may be rejected as excessive.
‘Instead, to obtain the full amount of £700 by another route, you fabricated or arranged to be fabricated, two smaller invoices, one for £450 and the other for £250.’
It refers to claims that the invoices from Creative Photography Wales (CPW) allegedly fabricated by Mr Davies were for ‘furniture/pictures’ but in fact ‘CPW do not produce furniture’.
Mr Davies, an MP since 2015, has since paid back £450 he received from IPSA.
Scotland Yard said last night that it was assessing ‘an allegation of fraudulent expense claims’.
IPSA said it was ‘made aware of this issue at the end of March’ and had ‘taken appropriate action’.
Last night, Mr Davies, a parliamentary aide at the Wales Office, said: ‘This was an honest mistake caused by my inexperience of the [IPSA] code.
‘I did not and never intended to claim expenses to which I was not entitled.
‘I apologise for this mistake and I have personally paid the £700 for the pictures.’