Former MP denies lying over expenses in interview

Jim Devine, 57, who held a seat in the House of Commons for Livingston in Scotland, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court for falsely claiming almost £9,000 from the public purse.

The former Labour backbencher says he requested invoices from his stationery company because he believed he was allowed to transfer money from his communications allowance in order to cover staffing costs.

Cross-examining Devine, Peter Wright QC, prosecuting, referred to an interview given by him to Channel 4 News on February 5 last year, the day he was charged with false accounting.

Facing questions from the presenter, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Devine was asked: “So what about the stationery receipts?”

The former MP told the journalist that there was an order for some leaflets with his stationery company Armstrong Printing, with whom he had an account, at the time.

Mr Wright said, in fact, all of the money went towards staffing costs, and the receipts did not relate to any stationery orders.

He said: “But the money in its entirety went towards the payment of this lady that you will not name.

“You knew it wasn’t anything to do with the leaflets.”

Devine told the court: “I couldn’t remember whether it was two receipts or it was three.”

The prosecutor put it to Devine: “Or was it that you were just trying to get a partial, inaccurate and untruthful account of what you had been up to, which had an air of authenticity about it.”

Devine said: “No.”

The former psychiatric nurse and union official is on trial facing two charges of false accounting.

The first count alleges that, between July 2008 and May 2009, Mr Devine dishonestly claimed £3,240 for cleaning services from Tom O’Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning Services.

The second count alleges that between March 2009 and April 2009, Mr Devine dishonestly claimed £5,505 for stationery from Armstrong Printing using false invoices.

Devine of West Main Street, Bathgate, West Lothian, denies both charges.

Devine asked the retired secretary of Armstrong Ltd, Jennifer McCrea, to mark two invoices “received with thanks”, when the jobs were never completed or paid for. She did not stamp them, but she passed them up to her manager William Lochie, who did.

Mr Wright said one of the false receipts, with an order for 20,000 questionnaires, was deliberately designed by Devine to correspond to an identical legitimate order that he made previously.

The prosecutor said: “You were trying to conceal what had gone on under a guise of a legitimate transaction with Armstrong Ltd.”

Devine denied that.

The trial continues.