38. Letter to Rt Hon Andrew Mackay
from the Commissioner, 21 July 2010
I am writing to let you know that I have now heard
back from the former Head of the Fees Office following the comments
you made to me in your e-mail of 13 July about his initial evidence.
I enclose a copy of my letter to this witness of
14 July and his response of 18 July. As you will see, he does
not accept your suggestion that his views on the application of
the rules have been affected by press coverage, and, while he
accepts that you moved into your Bromsgrove property in September
1997, he stands by the substance of his previous evidence. While
I will record his comments on his reference to "retrospectively",
I propose to keep these words in his original evidence.
As the then Head of the Fees Office says, it is clear
that you and he differ on the advice he provided you in 1997.
I will need to address this in my conclusions to this inquiry.
If you wish to comment further, please do so. Otherwise,
I consider that I have completed my inquiry and will now prepare
the draft factual sections of my memorandum to the Committee on
Standards and Privileges. This memorandum will also cover the
complaint against Ms Julie Kirkbride. I will show you the factual
sections of the memorandum which relate to the complaint against
you so that you may comment if you wish on their factual accuracy.
I will then add my conclusions and submit the full memorandum
to the Committee on Standards and Privileges, once it is appointed.
The Clerk to the Committee will then send you a copy of the full
memorandum for any comments you may wish to make before the Committee
come to consider the matter.
It would be helpful, therefore, if you could let
know in the next week whether you would like to comment further
on the response from the then Head of the Fees Office. In the
meantime, I will continue work on the draft memorandum.
Thank you for your help.
21 July 2010
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