david chater, who belongs to the then-governing labor party, admitted fraudulently claiming more than 20,000 pounds. here's our political correspondent ian watson. >> he was a laborer for 13 years. today he has a criminal conviction. david chateous is guilty of three charges of false accounting and failed to scompen so seriously he was taken to court. >> nobody should be allowed to take money they were not entitled to. by his actions, david chater has abused the trust placed him in by the public. >> in court today, he admitted to dishonestly claiming nearly 2,000 pounds for i.t. services, dishonestly claiming nearly 5.5 thousand pounds for renting a property for his mother and dishonestly claiming nearly 13,000 pounds for renting a property in london for which in fact he owned. it looks like an old council block but the flat was a prime location in westminster. once he paid off his mortgage on it, he started to make new claims for rent. they said he was renting for a house that turned out to be his daughter. the property records suggest david himself still owned the flat, making him i