A former Tory peer made "false, deceptive and misleading" claims for expenses, a court has heard.
Lord Taylor of Warwick submitted forms saying his main residence was in Oxford when he was actually living in London, Southwark Crown Court was told.
The 58-year-old claimed for travelling expenses between the two cities and for night subsistence to cover being in London.
But the property in Oxford was occupied by a relative, and Lord Taylor has agreed that he never stayed at the address and had no legal or financial interest in it, prosecutor Helen Law said.
Lord Taylor faced six allegations of false accounting relating to claims made between March 2006 and October 2007. He sent the claims to the members' expenses section of the House of Lords finance department and the money was duly paid.
Ms Law said: "It is the prosecution's case that these claim forms contained claims for some expenses that Lord Taylor was not entitled to, and that he knew that when he submitted them."
She added: "The only real issue in this case is Lord Taylor's state of mind when he submitted these forms. Did he know that they may be false, deceptive or misleading in a significant way?
"Was he acting dishonestly when he submitted them? Was he intending to make a financial gain?
"We say he must have known the forms were false, deceptive and misleading. He must have known that to do so was dishonest and that he would get money in return for submitting the forms."
