Australian MP in court over Cabcharge misuse

Australia's former parliamentary Speaker faces...

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According to the Australian Federal Police, Slipper had been served with a summons "in relation to three offences of dishonestly causing a risk of a loss to the commonwealth".

Slipper resigned as speaker in October over extensive obscene text messages he sent to his former media adviser James Ashby, who six months earlier launched a sexual harassment case against the MP.

The case was dropped after it was revealed it was launched for political purposes and was an abuse of the processes.

In his original application to the Federal Court in April,  Ashby alleged his former employer handed over signed but incomplete Cabcharge documents to a Sydney hire car driver on three occasions between January and February last year. Ashby withdrew those claims in May.

Slipper denied such claims, declaring the allegations he had misused his Cabcharge entitlements to be a "complete fabrication".

The summons relate to allegations that Slipper took three unauthorised trips outside the Canberra area in 2010, at a cost of about A$900 to taxpayers.