Swaraj Paul among 3 Asian Lords ordered to repay £200,000 in false claims
19 Oct 2010
In the UK an investigation has found that Baroness Uddin, Lord Bhatia, the cross-bencher, and Lord Paul had falsely claimed allowances for over-night stay despite owning properties in London where they spent the bulk of their time.
Apart from facing the longest suspensions from the House of Lords ever levied, the three between them have been ordered to repay around £200,000.
Baroness Uddin, the worst offender, designated a ramshackle house owned by her brother in Frinton on Sea, Essex, as her main home before she purchased a small flat of her own in Maidstone, Kent, and registered that as her primary address.
Baroness Uddin the first Muslim woman in the House of Lords was born in Bangladesh and brought up in England. She is an advocate of social reforms and equal rights. An ardent champion of women's causes, she was invited to the House of Lords in 1998 for her contribution to the advancement of women's and disability rights.
In a damning report by the Lords conduct and privileges committee she was found to be claiming the £174-a-night allowances even as she continued to live at her family home in east London.
According to the committee's ruling, the purchase of the Kent property and the claims she put up for regular travel to and from the flat were done to boost her taxpayer-funded allowances.
