Shamed Labour MP Keith Vaz’s £4m property empire exposed as it’s revealed he paid school fees on just two incomes
He and his wife have a haul of properties in London and Leicester
THE wife of scandal hit Labour MP Keith Vaz bought a £500,000 flat in central London last December - taking the couple’s property empire to SEVEN, worth a total of more than £4 MILLION.
The shamed MP’s wife, Maria, bought the flat in Pimlico, a short distance from the House of Commons, in her own name six months before Mr Vaz bought a flat in north London for almost £400,000.
The couple have a third London flat that is rented out, a large family home and an office building in the capital and two properties in Leicester, reports .
They sent their two children to private schools in Hertfordshire that between them charge fees totalling £35,000 a year, and have made regular trips to visit family in India.
Despite this privileged lifestyle, Mr Vaz, who has represented Leicester East since 1987, earns just £74,926 as an MP and an additional £15,025 as chairman of the home affairs select committee - a role he is set to resign from later today.
In the past 16 years Mr Vaz has declared outside earnings of only £1,950 in addition to rent worth more than £10k a year from one of the London flats he owns.
His wife, who was pictured with her husband leaving their north London family home yesterday, heads a small immigration law firm in London.
It is not registered with Companies House, making it impossible to assess how profitable the firm is, but is has been previously said that she makes about £60,000 a year.
The extent of the Vaz family’s property empire is likely to prompt further questions about how the couple have been able to amass such wealth.
The vice-scandal MP has faced scrutiny and investigations over his finances for several years, although he has always denied any wrongdoing.
In September 2012 reported that a police investigation had found that between 1996 and 2001 almost £500,000 was deposited into a series of bank accounts belonging to the MP.
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Police found the former minister had “seven or eight mortgages” over the same period but was able to make mortgage payments totalling more than his salary as an MP.
A Scotland Yard document said that a report made to the National Criminal Intelligence Service had stated: “News reports have linked Vaz to the Hinduja brothers’ passport application affair and imply that he may have received payments.”
Mr Vaz insisted that his funds were the proceeds of property deals. He pointed out at the time that the information in police documentation was incorrect and that he knew of no investigation into him.
No further action was taken.
During the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009 it emerged that Mr Vaz had claimed £75,000 for a Westminster flat only 12 miles from his family home and had subsequently “flipped” his designated second home to one of his Leicester properties.
He also faced questions over his finances in 2001 when it emerged that he owned five properties and had been negotiating to buy a sixth, a £900,000 townhouse in London, before pulling out of that deal.
The flat in a development in Edgware, north London, in which Mr Vaz allegedly entertained male escorts last month is the newest addition to his property portfolio. It was bought without a mortgage for £387,500 in June and is registered in the Labour MP's name.
Last night it emerged Mr Vaz had been caught on CCTV two years ago also meeting a younger man at a posh London hotel and according to one ex-worker often went there, sometimes to meet young men.
The family’s home, a detached house with a large garden that was bought by him and his wife for £1.15 million in 2005, is a ten-minute walk away in Stanmore. It is estimated to be worth more than £2 million.
Mrs Vaz, who works under her maiden name, Maria Fernandes, recently bought a one-bedroom flat in central London.
Mrs Vaz also owns the building that houses her law firm, Fernandes Vaz Solicitors, after buying it for £485,000 in March 2010.
Mark Stephens, the MP’s lawyer, said last night that Mr Vaz bought his first property in Leicester before he was an MP, for £24,000 in 1985. The second was inherited from his mother when she died from cancer in 2003.
The new flat in Edgware was bought by Mr Vaz with a loan from an institutional lender which will be repaid with proceeds from the sale of one of his Leicester houses.
The family are moving out of their home in Stanmore because it needs extensive renovation, including a new roof and rewiring.
“His wife is a successful lawyer. You will find everything was declared properly in the register of members’ interests. He is punctilious about that,” the lawyer said.
Sources have told The Sun that this morning the home affairs select committee is due to meet to discuss his political future.
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