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Three Labour MPs and a Tory peer appeared before Westminster magistrates court this afternoon on charges of false accounting in relation to expenses claims.
Jim Devine, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor have been charged under the Theft Act 1968. They indicated they would plead not guilty and would try to claim parliamentary privilege.
District Judge Timothy Workman referred the case to crown court.
A small group of protesters, some wearing pig masks, demonstrated outside the magistrates court, which is a short walk from Parliament.
Lord Hanningfield faces six charges for claiming expenses he was not entitled to. In court today just after the MPs, he also intends to plead not guilty.
A former Conservative spokesman in the Lords, he is accused of repeatedly claiming for overnight stays in London when records show he was driven home.
The maximum sentence under Section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 for false accounting is seven years in prison.
Julian Knowles, barrister for the MPs, said they would try to claim parliamentary privilege.
"The principle of the separation of powers means that whatever matter arises concerning the workings of Parliament should be dealt with by Parliament and not elsewhere and should be dealt with in a manner that is consistent with the way other members have been treated," he said.
Morley, MP for Scunthorpe, faces two charges for dishonest mortgage claims.
Devine (Livingston) is accused of using false receipts to claim money from Commons authorities.
Chaytor, MP for Bury North, is charged with three counts, including using a false receipt and claiming rent for a property he owns.
All four parliamentarians were released on unconditional bail and told to appear at Southwark Crown Court on March 30.
Lord Hanningfield has resigned as leader of Essex County Council and has been suspended from the Conservative parliamentary whip.
Morley, Chaytor and Devine have also had the whip withdrawn and have been banned from standing as Labour candidates.
Details of the charges
Elliot Morley (Lab, Yorkshire and Humberside) faces two charges under the act.
He stands accused of dishonestly claiming mortgage expenses worth £14,428 in excess of what he was entitled, between April 2004 and February 2006.
It is also alleged he claimed £16,000 in mortgage costs for the same property between March 2006 and November 2007 when there was no longer a mortgage to be paid.
The Yorkshire and Humberside MP served the Blair government as a minister in the various environment departments for nine years from 1997 until 2005.
David Chaytor (Lab, Bury North) faces three charges. He is accused of claiming £12,925 in rent for a property in Regency Street between September 2005 and September 2006, when he was in fact the owner.
And it is alleged he claimed £5,425 between September 2007 and January 2008 for renting a property owned by his mother.
He is also accused of claiming for £1,950 for IT services in May 2006 by using false invoices.
Jim Devine (Lab, Livingstone) stands accused of claiming £3,240 for cleaning services between July 2008 and April 2009 and £5,505 for stationary in March 2009 using false invoices.
Devine had been Robin Cook's election agent for twenty years, and succeeded the former Foreign Secretary as MP for Livingstone in 2005 following Cook's death.
But his time as an MP will have been particularly short, as he was deselected by the Labour Party and barred from standing again after allegations about his expenses claims.
The former trade union official claimed he had been "hung out to dry" and had done nothing wrong.
He had threatened to resign and force a by-election or stand as an independent at the next general election.
Lord Hanningfield faces six charges. The Conservative peer issued "numerous claims" for overnight expenses for staying in London, when records appear to show he was driven home and did not sleep in the capital.
Announcing the details of the prosecutions last month Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said the "applicability and extent of any Parliamentary privilege claimed should be tested in court".
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd