Ex-UK minister jailed over expenses claims

Legal World

A London court sentenced a former government minister to 16 months in prison on Friday over the largest bogus claim exposed in Britain's lawmaker expenses scandal.

Elliot Morley pleaded guilty last month to two charges of false accounting over bills worth 32,000 pounds (nearly $52,000).

The 58-year-old former Labour Party politician claimed for mortgage payments on a loan that had already been paid off.

Justice John Saunders told Southwark Crown Court that Morley was guilty of "blatant dishonesty" and had "thrown away his good name and character."

In his verdict, Saunders said he was satisfied that "the excessive claims were made deliberately and are not explicable even in part by oversight."

The sentencing follows the 2009 disclosure of previously secret expense files that revealed how politicians had billed the public for items including swank second homes and pornographic movies.

Morley is the first former minister to be jailed for fiddling his expenses; three other former lawmakers received terms ranging from 12 to 18 months.

The case ended a political career spanning nearly 20 years. Morley, an environment minister in Tony Blair's government, chose not to run again for Parliament last year.

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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

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