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divdiv class=story-body readability=24 span class=story-date#13; span class=date18 November 2013/span#13; span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time09:00 ET/span#13; #13; /span#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1Ex-Labour MP Denis MacShane has pleaded guilty to false accounting over parliamentary expenses./p#13; pDuring a hearing at the Old Bailey in London, Mr MacShane admitted false accounting by putting in fake receipts for £12,900 of research and translation services./p#13; pThe former Europe minister used the money to fund trips to the continent./p#13; pSentencing was adjourned until 19 December. He was granted unconditional bail./p#13; pMr Justice Sweeney told MacShane, 65, that all sentencing options remain open. The maximum sentence for false accounting is seven years./p#13; pMacShane was an MP for 18 years, entering Parliament in a by-election in 1994. /p#13; ulli He served as Europe minister under Tony Blair between 2002 and 2005/li#13; li Prior to entering politics, he worked for the BBC and the International Metalworkers Federation/li#13; li His father was Polish and he changed his surname from Matyjaszek to his Irish mother's maiden name/li#13; li He has been married twice and has also had relationships with broadcaster Carol Barnes and writer Joan Smith/li#13; /ul#13; pThe BBC's political correspondent Chris Mason said MacShane entered his guilty plea during a short appearance on Monday, admitting filing 19 fraudulent invoices between January 2005 and January 2008./p#13; pThe Commons authorities began looking at his claims in 2009 and referred the matter to police within months after identifying potential criminal activity./p#13; pBut the long-standing principle of parliamentary privilege meant detectives were not given access to correspondence with the standards commissioner in which MacShane described how signatures on receipts from the European Policy Institute (EPI) had been faked./p#13; span class=cross-headLetters emerged/span#13; pThe EPI was controlled by MacShane and the general manager's signature was not genuine./p#13; pOne letter, dated October 2009, described how he drew funds from the EPI so he could serve on a book judging panel in Paris./p#13; pBut the letters only emerged in November last year after Scotland Yard said it was taking no further action and the cross-party standards committee published a report recommending a 12-month suspension from the House./p#13; pMacShane resigned as MP for Rotherham before the punishment could be imposed. He has always maintained that he did not personally profit from the claims/p#13; pPolice re-opened their probe in the light of the fresh evidence and the 65-year-old was charged in May - even though the letters are still not thought to be admissible in court./p#13; pFour MPs and two peers have been sent to prison as a result of the expenses revelations from 2009. Their sentences ranged from 9 to 18 months. One further MP, Labour's Margaret Moran was given a supervision order instead after suffering mental health problems./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center