FORMER Labour mInister and Coventry MP Geoffrey Robinson is being investigated by police over an alleged “irregularity” over a salary he paid to an old friend, according to The Mail on Sunday.
The 81-year-old retired Coventry North West MP faces questions about an estimated £30,000-a-year taxpayer-funded salary paid to “a long-term friend, Brenda Price, for working in his constituency office at the age of 89” says the national newspaper.
Leaked emails from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa), which oversees MPs’ expenses, allegedly show Mr Robinson had claimed that Ms Price worked 30 hours per week as his ‘constituency financial officer’.
The Mail on Sunday says he had powers of attorney over her final affairs, and that she needed 24-hour nursing care since at least March 2018.
She died last month at her £600,000 Balsall Common home aged 90.
Commons watchdogs have alerted police, the national newspaper claims.
For years, he would stay at her home when in his Coventry constituency and claim rent on expenses for using a room, all declared in his claims files.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed to The Mail on Sunday: “Ipsa made a referral to the Met in relation to possible expense claim irregularities in relation to an individual. This is currently being assessed.”
My Robinson is said to strenuously deny any allegation of wrongdoing.
