7:00am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Dominic Yeatman
POLICE have launched a formal investigation into the expense claims of Leyton and Wanstead MP Harry Cohen, according to reports.
The MP, who is stepping down after 28 years in Parliament at the next general election, has been forced for relinquish his £65,000 resettlement grant after claiming a second home allowance on his home in Wanstead despite that fact that he spent most of his time there while renting out his other home in Colchester.
Police are believed to have asked the Parliamentary authorities for records of Mr Cohen's expense claims, but are not thought to have spoken to the MP himself so far.
Three MPs, along with Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield, will be the first expense claimants to see their cases reach court when they appear for a preliminary hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court tomorrow.
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