Laura Anne Jones cleared by police over expenses allegations
Emily Price
A Welsh Conservative MS who was facing allegations of falsifying mileage for her expenses claims has been cleared of any wrongdoing by South Wales Police.
Laura Anne Jones was stripped of her shadow cabinet position in June after WhatsApp messages appeared to show a member of staff being asked: “When doing petrol thing – always make more than I did – add in stuff please ok.”
The Senedd Standard’s Commissioner Douglas Bain launched a probe following a complaint about Ms Jones but put it on hold whilst officers carried out their own investigation into the messages.
‘Misconceived’
At the time, a solicitor speaking on behalf of the MS for South Wales East said she was “satisfied that any allegations in relation to impropriety surrounding expenses are entirely misconceived”.
In a statement released today, South Wales Police confirmed that Ms Jones is no longer under investigation.
The case was previously closed on October 7 – but was relaunched when new evidence surfaced – although it was unclear what the new evidence was.
A spokesperson said: “South Wales Police has concluded its investigation into an allegation of fraud following a referral from the Senedd Commissioner for Standards.
“No evidence of fraudulent activity has been found and the investigation is now closed. All relevant parties have been updated.”
Closed
Although Ms Jones was suspended from the shadow culture brief during the police investigation, Tory Senedd group leader Andrew RT Davies did not remove the party whip.
Mr Davies always maintained that his MS shouldn’t be “tarred and feathered” before the investigation had run its course.
In a statement, Ms Jones said: “I am glad that today this case has finally been dropped.
“The past few months have been far from ideal but I have been given strength by the fact of my innocence and for the volume of support that I have received.
“I have not let it distract me and I look forward to continuing to serve my constituents to the best of my ability and holding the Welsh Labour Government to account.”
Probe
It is understood the investigation has now been handed back to the the Standards Commissioner to continue his probe.
The Standards Commissioner is an independent person appointed by the Welsh Parliament to investigate complaints about the conduct of Members of the Senedd.
The process is highly confidential with no details made public until the Commissioner has reached a conclusion.
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Must be covered in teflon. Her smug attitude reflected in that photo. She’ll now think she can get away with any old scam.
Hasn’t she been involved in Multi-level Marketing Schemes in the past?
Presumably this sets a precedent for anyone claiming mileage.
I suppose it’s no surprise: they’re all on the make in one way or another, they know that we know, but they don’t care.
It’s worth bearing in mind that once the police began an investigation as to whether there’d been any illegality, the Standards Commissioner had perforce to suspend any consideration as to whether Ms Jones had failed to live up to the rules of conduct to which members of the Senedd are subject.
So now that the police have concluded that there’s been no breach of the law, the Commissioner can now resume consideration as to whether she has breached the rules which apply to elected members. A breach of those rules doesn’t necessarily imply a breach of the law.
Quote: “When doing petrol thing – always make more than I did – add in stuff please ok.” How can South Wales Police possibly come to their conclusion? What’s going on?
Suppose it means not enough to charge. Not worth the time. Nothing to there to even look at?
I doubt many firms in the real world call the police in when people are fiddling expenses, they just manage them out the door. Unless is it a large defunding the company via un receipted bills and made up petrol claims.
Wonder what the mpg is like on these claims for the shortest route vs claimed milage…..
The standards commissioner just needs to start from her message which you quoted and see what stuff has been added in from there. What she was doing and where she was going on official business cannot be that hard to identify. That statement shows a clear intent to claim over and above so I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this unless the person who was instructed to add stuff in did not do so thereby keeping it all straight.