LONDON, Mar 29: Britain’s Culture Secretary Maria Miller faces censure for abusing the parliamentary expenses system after over-claiming for her mortgage and making a 1 million-pound profit on sale, local media reported today.
According to the Telegraph report, the Culture Secretary abused the parliamentary expenses system by over-claiming for her mortgage and then failing to fully co-operate with an investigation into her conduct.
Miller is set to have to repay up to 5,000 pounds and be censured for her claims – following an official parliamentary inquiry which is expected to report as soon as this week.
She has recently sold the south London house at the centre of the scandal for a profit of more than a million pounds.
The cabinet minister, who has previously been supported by Premier David Cameron, is expected to come under intense pressure to resign when the results of the official inquiry are made public.
The Prime Minister will be loathe to lose the state-school educated woman member of his Government but any minister found to have abused the parliamentary expenses system is likely to be seen as a major electoral liability.
Miller was exposed after claiming more than 90,000 pounds over four years for a second home where her parents lived in South London – rather than submitting claims for cottages she rented in her Basingstoke constituency.
The parliamentary commissioner is understood to have concluded that the arrangement did not lead to Miller benefiting financially.
However, the commissioner is unlikely to be aware of the seven-figure profit made in recent weeks by the minister.
Miller and her husband sold the large house in Wimbledon for 1.47 million pounds on Valentine’s Day this year.
They originally bought the house for 234,000 pounds – which means the house value increased by 1,236,000 pounds.
Between 2005 and 2009, she claimed 90,718 pounds, which was only 115 pounds less than the limit.
Although the house only cost 234,000 pounds in 1995, the Millers took out a large mortgage against the house – and claimed the interest on the mortgage from the taxpayer.
In November 2007, they increased the mortgage from 525,000 pounds to 575,000 pounds.
The rules state that MPs could only increase their mortgages to pay the costs of necessary improvements – and that these should be signed off with the parliamentary authorities.
The parliamentary inquiry discovered that Miller over-claimed for her mortgage and so should repay around 5,000 pounds to the expenses watchdog.
The over-payment is understood to have occurred because Miller did not adjust her downward claims for mortgage as interest rates fell during the period under investigation.
MPs want Miller to apologise for not co-operating in a “timely manner” with the commissioner. (AGENCIES)
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