(UDHAYAM, CANBERRA) – Susan Ley insists she did not break any laws when she bought a house during a government-funded trip.
Australia’s health minister has stepped down temporarily, to allow auditors to scour her expense accounts, after she bought an investment apartment while on a work trip, an embarrassing start to the year for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In a statement issued on Monday, Turnbull said Health Minister Susan Ley would forgo her salary, until an investigation is completed.
“I expect the highest standards from my ministers in all aspects of their conduct, and especially the expenditure of public money,” the Liberal Party prime minister said.
Ley, who is also aged care minister and sport minister, has been fighting calls for her resignation since Friday, when it was revealed she made expense claims for several visits to the Gold Coast, a holiday destination in northeastern Queensland State.
During one of the visits, she reportedly purchased an investment property worth US$581,000 from a Liberal Party donor, foreign media reports.
