Yard launch criminal inquiry into expenses of Labour ex-Minister
SCOTLAND YARD has launched a criminal investigation into suspected irregularities in a former Labour Minister’ s Commons expenses, as uncovered by The Mail on Sunday.
The police launched the probe into Geoffrey Robinson over a £ 30,000- a- year taxpayer- funded salary paid to a long-term friend who was working in his constituency office at the age of 89.
The newspaper revealed in December that Mr Robinson, who was Paymaster General under Tony Blair, told Commons authorities that Brenda Price was working virtually full-time for him just two months before he disclosed that she was so frail that she required round-the-clock nursing care.
After seeing the results of our inquiries, the Commons authorities alerted the police, who have now triggered a formal investigation and asked to study our evidence.
The dossier includes details of how Mr Robinson was granted power of attorney over Ms Price’s affairs while she was still receiving her salary, potentially giving him control over her finances.
The Parliamentary authorities raised the alarm because they suspected that Mr Robinson may have continued to pay the £30,000 wage to Ms Price beyond the point when doctors concluded d that she was losing her mental faculties.
Emails leaked to The Mail on Sunday revealed that Mr Robinson told the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority ( Ipsa) that Ms Price was working for him 30 hours a week. This submission came in January 2018, three months after she had granted Mr Robinson the power of attorney.
The process would allow him to control her financial affairs if she went on to lose the mental capacity to do so herself. Ipsa, which governs MPs’ M salaries, staffing st costs and expenses, expects to be informed if staff are no longer fit to work.
The police are also examining Mr Robinson’s claims for a total of £43,060 from the Commons in rent for a room in Ms Price’s home near his Coventry North West constituency. He billed £960 a month from May 2015 until February last year, £ 15,380 of which came after he drew up the power of attorney.
Ms Price had apparently needed 24-hour nursing care since at least March 2018. She died at her £600,000 detached home in Balsall Common in November at the age of 90. Mr Robinson was with her when she passed away, and paid tribute to her at her funeral, which was attended by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and former Labour Cabinet Minister Ed Balls.
The police investigation comes a year after The Mail on Sunday unearthed intelligence files which identified Mr Robinson as a spy who allegedly handed defence secrets to Communist Czechoslovakia during the Cold War – allegations which Mr Robinson described as a complete fabrication.
We reported claims t hat Mr Robinson, codenamed Karko, had passed a trove of confidential information to a Communist spy at the height of the Cold War.
Intelligence files state that Czech secret police chiefs considered him one of their most productive sources in Britain at the time, providing intelligence on topics including estimated military spending cuts.
Mr Robinson stood down at last year’s Election after 43 years as a Labour MP.
The Metropolitan Police said: ‘In December 2019, Ipsa made a referral to the Met in relation to possible expense claims irregularities in relation to an individual. This matter is currently under investigation.’
Mr Robinson has declined to comment.