Did the Lords cttee that changed the expenses rules realise that it would halt the police investigation?
The rules change did not halt the police investigation. Some peers are still being criminally prosecuted. The criminal charges against Paul, Uddin and Bhattia were dropped because the Crown Prosecution Service believed that there was insufficient evidence that their actions were knowingly illegal. There may well also have been some political pressure. CPS was under a lot of criticism for the fact that all of the first three Indians to be elevated to the peerage – including the first Muslim woman – were facing criminal charges. The expenses rules were SO badly written that financial experts like these three were able to find ways to fleece the taxpayers while staying within the strict letter of the law. It is Peers like Taylor and Hanningfield – who did not come from a finance background and were not as rich as the three Indian peers – whose claims, although much smaller, were found to be illegal.
