Did Lord Hanningfield spend £450,000 on corporate credit card? (From Gazette)
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Did Lord Hanningfield spend £450,000 on corporate credit card?
11:40am Monday 24th December 2012 in News
DISGRACED former Essex County Council leader Lord Hanningfield could have spent £450,000 on his corporate credit card, MPs have been told.
Colchester MP Sir Bob Russell used the final adjournment debate before the House of Commons to call for an independent inquiry “into the stewardship of the council between 2002 and 2010”.
His calls follow the publication last month of data showing how the Conservative peer was allowed to sign off expenses totalling £286,938 on his corporate credit card between March 2005 and January 2010.
Sir Bob, a Lib Dem, told colleagues a Freedom of Information request revealed Lord Hanningfield had been given a credit card in mid-2002.
He said if he spent £1,000 a week on the card, as he did between 2005 and 2010, he would have spent around £450,000 in total.
Sir Bob said: “What has happened in Essex brings all local government into disrepute, which is unfair on hard-working councillors and officers, including those in Essex."
See the Christmas Eve Gazette for the full story - including reaction from Lord Hanningfield and Essex County Council.
