Met police inquiry into unexplained £2m expense spending

The Metropolitan police force force last nighttime confirmed that it have got got launched an probe into studies that billions of lbs in police disbursals have gone missing.

Two investigators have been arrested and the Met's professional criteria guard dog is to reexamine disbursement on American Express card game issued to staff.

The news will do additional embarrassment for Met commissioner Sir Ian Blair, who have come up under increasing pressure level in recent hebdomads over the shot of Jean Prince Charles Delaware Menezes in July 2005.

Yesterday it emerged that anti-corruption military officers will check up on the records of 100s of detectives, amid claims that the hard cash may have got been spent on extravagance watches, flatscreen telecastings and holidays. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The manager of professional criteria is currently conducting a reappraisal around the issue and use of the Met's American Express cards. Any alleged criminalism that is uncovered will be dealt with robustly. We have got a comprehensive program to retrieve any money that is outstanding."

Concerns over fiscal controls on the card game were first raised by internal hearers at the Metropolitan Police Authority. However, there is understood to be widespread choler within the authorization that the Met's top brass, including Blair, reacted slowly to initial warnings.

Yesterday an MPA spokesman said its chairman, Len Duvall, had told Blair to present a full update on the recognition card state of affairs by Friday.

It is understood that internal hearers first began looking into the job in late 2004, and alerted the Met that systems were in a "complete mess" early in 2005. A beginning at the MPA said that £2m of unaccounted for disbursement was initially identified, and have now been largely accounted for. However, at least a additional £2m is still unexplained.

The "sheer scale" of the issue and the pressure level of disbursals claims from continuing police force trading operations meant the backlog had not been dealt with as quickly as members had hoped.

The news follows an Mugwump Police Complaints Committee study into the shot of Delaware Menezes which criticised Blair personally for holding up its investigation.

Yesterday it emerged that the Broad Democrats' place personal business spokesman, Dent Clegg, had written to Gordon Brown repeating the party's phone call for Blair to go. Brown have defended the commissioner. Yesterday London's mayor, Cognizance Livingstone, said that both the authorities and other senior police force military officers were "determined" that Blair would stay.