By IRNA,
London : Over half of British MPs were ordered Thursday to repay a total of more than £ 1 million ($1.6m) in excessive expense claims on second homes, but none of the returned money will add to public finances.
The independent panel investigating the expenses scandal found that 390 MPs, some 52% of 752 current and former MPs investigated, had over-claimed £1.3 m since 2004, but this was reduced to £1.13m following appeals so far.
The panel, chaired by Sir Thomas Legg, also revealed that the cost of its audit ordered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had cost the same amount that MPs had to repay.
Legg, a former senior civil servant, described the expenses system as being “deeply flawed.” The rules were “vague” and it had been up to MPs to “self certify” the propriety of their claims, he said.
The report said that there had been a “culture of deference” to MPs by expenses officials and “no audit of any kind” of second homes expenses had been carried out during the period he covered.
It revealed that £800,000 had been repaid already – some voluntarily, unconnected to the panel’s demands – since the scandal was leaked by a British newspaper back in May 2009.
The scandal also embroiled Brown and the leaders of Britain’s two other main parties, opposition Conservative leader David Cameron and Liberal Democrat leader Nic Clegg, who all claimed excessive expenses.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the publication of the investigation was one part of a wider process of restoring faith in parliament.
“The PM feels very strongly that this is one part of restoring trust in the way our political institutions have been operating and continue to operate,” said the spokesman.