Love triangle Scottish MP profited £62k from the sale of TAXPAYER-FUNDED London flat
THE SNP deputy leader involved in the Westminster love triangle made £62,500 on the sale of his taxpayer-funded London flat, it can be revealed.
Stewart Hosie saw his marriage break down last week after he admitted cheating on his wife, Health Secretary Shona Robison, with journalist Serena Cowdy.
Fellow Nationalist Angus MacNeill also had an extramarital affair with Ms Cowdy and both men are now facing Commons probes over the alleged use of expenses to fund the flings.
Shortly after being elected MP for Dundee East in 2005, Mr Hosie bought a flat on Sumatra Road in trendy West Hampstead with a purchase price of £217,500.
He claimed £3,337.97 for stamp duty and legal fees and more than £2,500 on fixtures and fittings, before going on to claim a total of £71,668 in mortgage interest.
According to documents filed with the Land Registry in England and Wales, Mr Hosie sold the flat on September 28, 2011 for £280,000 - resulting in a profit of £62,500.
Under the rules brought in by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) after the expenses scandal, MPs had until August 2012 to stop claiming mortgage interest.
Many MPs sold their homes as a result and a number had to repay the profits made on the sale, although others were allowed to keep the cash as the rules only applied to gains made after May 2010.
The amount of profit from the sale of Mr Hosie's flat has never been disclosed before and the revelation last night prompted calls for him to repay the money.
Anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell, who famously served as an independent MP from 1997 to 2001, said: "Common sense applies here that if you make a profit from taxpayers' money then the profit should go back to the taxpayer. If he put some of his own money down then he is entitled to reclaim that part of it but you shouldn't make a profit from money that isn't yours."
And Eben Wilson, from public spending group Taxpayer Scotland, said: "Our politicians all agreed after the expenses scandal that acting in a way that didn't allow them undue privilege was vital to public confidence.
"Any time a politician claims to have policies that promote fairness and equality while gaining from financial engineering simply doesn't wash with taxpayers anymore. We await Mr Hosie's agreement to return these gains to the public purse."
Mr Hosie's flat first hit the headlines during the expenses scandal in 2009 when it emerged he had claimed £160 for four "beige radical check" scatter cushions.
Other claims included £693 for a bed, bed drawers and mattress from Habitat, £699 for a wheat-coloured two-seater sofa and £499 for another two-seater sofa.
At the time, he insisted the furnishings were "very basic" and added: "When I bought the flat, I considered that the cost to the taxpayer would be lower than renting and offer the best value for money."
After selling the Sumatra Road property, he spent months staying in hotels before moving into a rented flat in an art deco building overlooking the Thames.
According to reports, the 53-year-old often spent the night with 36-year-old Miss Cowdy at his new £1,500 a month pad.
Parliamentary watchdogs are now examining whether this may have been a breach of Westminster expenses rules.
On Friday both Mr Hosie and Ms Robison, the MSP for Dundee City East, were back at work at the small constituency office they share on Old Glamis Road.
He said: "Shona and I are both elected representatives. The office remains open. We will continue to serve our constituents."
An SNP spokesman said: "Under IPSA rules MPs were required to have an independent valuation on their property.
"Within a year when IPSA stopped paying mortgage interest, a second valuation was required. If the property value had increased, the difference in value was required to be repaid to IPSA. However as in this case, the valuation had fallen and there was no requirement to pay. Mr Hosie adhered strictly to the rules."