Ex-Labour MP Jared O’Mara tried to fraudulently claim up to £30,000 in taxpayers’ money to fund an “extensive cocaine habit”, prosecutors have claimed. Mr O’Mara, who unseated former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg as MP for Sheffield Hallam in 2017, is on trial for submitting “dishonest” invoices to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). Mr O’Mara, who appeared in court by videolink on Monday, is also accused of submitting a false contract of employment for his friend John Woodliff, “pretending” that Mr Woodliff worked for him as a constituency support officer. He is charged with eight counts of fraud by false representation, with Mr Arnold jointly charged with six of the offences, and Mr Woodliff jointly charged with one. He told jurors there was no evidence that any training or consultancy had been performed by Mr Arnold, and “legitimate staff” working for Mr O’Mara at the time had never heard of him.
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