Gerald Kaufman - Parliamentary Expenses Scandal

Parliamentary Expenses Scandal

See also: United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal and List of expenses claims in the United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal

Kaufman was involved in the 2009 UK parliamentary expenses scandal, where a number of British MPs made excessive expense claims, misusing their permitted allowances and expense accounts.

Kaufman was found to have claimed £115,109 in additional costs allowances on his London flat between 2001 and 2008, and submitted a claim for three months' expenses totalling £14,301.60 in June 2006, which included £8,865 for a 40-inch LCD television and £1,461.83 for a luxury rug imported from New York City (plus £389.91 in customs expenses), which violated regulations forbidding claims for luxury furnishings. He blamed his self-diagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder for his claims, and also said that his condition led him to purchase a pair of Waterford Crystal grapefruit bowls on his parliamentary expenses. Between 2005 and 2007, Kaufman claimed £28,834 for home improvements. He was subsequently summoned to the Parliamentary Fees Office to explain these claims, and in the end was paid £15,329. He also claimed £1,262 for a gas bill that was £1,055 in credit. His claims for food between 2004 and June 2008 were £19,200, close to the maximum allowed. He was also challenged over regular claims for "odd jobs", which he submitted without receipts at a rate of £245 per month, then £5 below the limit for unreceipted expenses, to which he replied by asking why these expenses were being queried.