A former Labour MP accused of fiddling his parliamentary expenses submitted false invoices to claim cash which cleared his overdraft, a court has heard.
Jim Devine, 57, who held a Commons seat for Livingston in Scotland, is on trial at London's Southwark Crown Court accused of falsely claiming almost £9,000 from the public purse.
Devine, who was elected in 2005, is alleged to have submitted five false invoices for cleaning and maintenance work to his London flat, and two false documents to claim for printing leaflets. None of the work was carried out and when confronted, Devine tried to blame a secretary, the court heard.
Jurors were told that Devine, whose main residence was in Bathgate, West Lothian, was almost always overdrawn and that one false claim of £2,400 had been enough to clear it - but only for one day.
Opening the case, prosecutor Peter Wright QC told jurors the case against him was "very straight-forward". He said the former MP made the claims "with a view to gain for himself, or with an intent to cause loss to another - the public purse".
The first count alleges that, between July 2008 and May 2009, Devine dishonestly claimed £3,240 for cleaning services from Tom O'Donnell Hygiene and Cleaning Services.
But the court heard that while Tom O'Donnell did provide legitimate cleaning services, he was more familiar to Devine as the landlord of his local pub, the Prince of Wales near his second home on Elliot's Row in Elephant and Castle, south-east London.
Although a cleaner employed by Mr O'Donnell did carry out cleaning work at the flat, Devine carried on using a blank invoice given to him by the publican to claim for further work that was never carried out.
The second count alleges that between March 2009 and April 2009, Devine dishonestly claimed £5,505 for stationery from Armstrong Printing Ltd using false invoices. He denies all the charges.
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Mr Wright said: "The invoices were fiction. No such costs had been incurred. It was merely a device used by Mr Devine in which to receive a substantial amount of public money to which he was not entitled. The money he received from the fees office was sufficient to extinguish his overdraft."
