MP Elliot Morley, in happier days, before he was facing criminal charges for expenses fraud. Photo credit: Tails for Whales

Four MPs will be charged with criminal offenses, the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Crown Prosecution Service announced today: According to the BBC, MPs Elliot Morley, Jim Devine, David Chaytor and Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield will face charges under the Theft Act. The three MPs, in a joint statement, denied the charges.

The four are facing as much as seven years in prison, if found guilty, Sky News reported (Sky News also ran the story with an animated graphic of a bunch of banks notes whirling around over an image of Parliament).

The Guardian reported that all four are being charged until a section of the Theft Act relating to false accounting. Morley, the MP for Scunthorpe, is being charged in relation to mortgage claims worth around £30,000; Chaytor for claims worth around £18,000; Devine for claims worth around £8,000; and Lord Hanningfield is being charged in relation to claims for overnight accommodation.

This whole MP scandal kicked off after a long freedom of information battle, headed up by The Telegraph, after which the House of Commons was forced to disclose MPs expenses and allowances. On 8 May 2009, The Telegraph began publishing the first in a series of leaked extracts of the MP second home claim reports, revealing that some MPs were “flipping” homes to get more money out of the system. On 11 May, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued an apology. The next month saw a lot of frantic scrambling, some backpedaling, and even the announcement from former Home Secretary Jacqueline Smith that she would be standing down.

On 19 June, Scotland Yard announced that some MPs and peers were facing a criminal investigation over their claims.

From there, Sir Thomas Legg got into his audit of the expenses, reforms were passed, and The Telegraph revealed that it had a “mole” on the inside to whom the paper paid £110,000 for their leaked expenses. This “mole” told the paper that he or she was motivated by the “plight of the British troops.” And really, that £110,000 didn’t have all that much to do with it.