Malik faces sleaze inquiry

The communities minister Shahid Malik faces an investigation by the parliamentary sleaze watchdog into his expense claims.

Gordon Brown brought Mr Malik into the Government three days ago after he was cleared of breaching the ministerial code over the rent arrangements for his constituency home.

Mr Malik was criticised, however, by Sir Philip Mawer, Mr Brown's adviser on ministerial interests, for failing to obtain a written agreement specifying the rent paid on the property in his constituency in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

He faces separate allegations, which he denies, that he claimed expenses simultaneously for offices both in his constituency and his London homes.

The Sunlight Centre for Open Politics, a transparency campaign group founded by the Guido Fawkes blogger Paul Staines, yesterday reported Mr Malik to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, stating that there was "intense public concern" about Mr Malik's claims. Mr Malik could not be contacted for comment last night.