If only cowboy plumbers were treated the same....

[bengasman]

This journalistic gem must improve everybody's mood.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20110107/tuk-ex-mp-jailed-for-fiddling-expenses-dba1618.html

And let's hope it is only the beginning.

 

[joe-90]

But the megga fiddlers got away with it.

Hoon and Darling became multi-millionaires by flipping their homes and getting the taxpayer to renovate them - then selling them on and pocketing wads - then doing it again and again.

Chayter just didn't know how to play the game and got caught. A 100K fine would have been better for all of us than jailing him.

He's hardly going to re-offend is he?

 

[JohnD]

He's hardly going to re-offend is he?

Only if he gets the chance.

A crook is a crook.

 

[bengasman]

... A 100K fine would have been better for all of us than jailing him. He's hardly going to re-offend is he?

Dear oh dear Joe, there really is no end to your ignorance.
The justice system is not primarily about punishment but about creating a safe environment for citizens.
That means we are looking at creating an efficient deterrent.

In all likelihood, the current and future politicians object a lot more to being corn holed than to paying some money which they would steal back anyway.
Not to mention the cost of vast quantities of KY.

 

[joe-90]

Why do you want the taxpayer to keep him locked up for no good reason? A £100K fine would sting me more than a few months in a comfy prison (hotel). A fine should be based as a percentage of someone's total wealth.
Then the rich would think twice before fiddling the books.

 

[bengasman]

Why do you want the taxpayer to keep him locked up for no good reason?

Really Joe, do keep up.

There is a very good reason for locking them up; it is spelled out in my previous post in this thread.
If you don't understand it straight away, read it several times and think about it.
It is obvious that thinking is not really your strong point, but you should try it, even if it is just this once.

 

[joe-90]

I don't want to pay for his keep - I'd rather give him a very large fine. What's wrong with that?

 

[joinerjohn]

What they should have done of course is to have compulsory purchased his house, for a fraction of it's worth, then sold it for it's true value and then give the money to some deserving charity.
Make Chayter get a real job on minimum wage for at least 5 yrs, so he has some experience of the real world too.
Why not stop there? Let's make all MP's take at least one gap year from parliament , doing a real job on minimum wage. No help with their mortgages either.

 

[bengasman]

I don't want to pay for his keep - I'd rather give him a very large fine. What's wrong with that?

For the second time Joe: read my post, and try to understand what I wrote.

 

[joe-90]

You read it.

 

[wreckedit]

I agree with Joe on this one. The chap hasn't committed a heinous crime and while he's in jail his investments will still be totting up money. So, why not fine him 1 million pounds and a suspended sentence. We kept him while he was in government why should we continue to keep him.
The duck house should be auctioned on Ebay and money given to charity.

 

[JohnD]

The chap hasn't committed a heinous crime .

Multi-thousand pound fraud isn't heinous?

what would you say if someone defrauded you? Or you defrauded your employer? or fraudulently claimed many thousands of pounds in state benefits?

 

[hi1]

what would you say if someone defrauded you? Or you defrauded your employer? or fraudulently claimed many thousands of pounds in state benefits?


Hello scouse

 

[Whitespirit66]

The chap hasn't committed a heinous crime .

Multi-thousand pound fraud isn't heinous?

what would you say if someone defrauded you?

What do you mean John? Chater did defraud him. He defrauded all of us, as it was taxpayers money.

It may not be heinous as there was no violence involved, but it was heinous for two very good reasons;

1) People like Chater, when elected to the commons, make the laws that the ordinary electorate are supposed to obey: laws that he controls, but seems to think don't apply to him

2) This money was taken from us all in taxes, we had no choice. Chater then embezelled it, and ****ed it against the wall.

Just like a bent copper. Enforcing the law one minute, breaking it the next.

 

[wreckedit]

His crime in relationship to those Pakistanis who preyed on young girls was piffling. That is what I mean by a heinous crime.
I think he should have all the money appertaining to his MP period taken back, fined heavily and made to do 500 hours community service. The ba..tward needs humiliating. All the MP's should be made to watch him in turn doing the service.