British police said Friday that lawmakers would face criminal investigations into their expenses claims, in the latest twist of a scandal that has rocked the country's politics. Scotland Yard said a panel of senior detectives and prosecutors had decided that full inquiries were necessary for a 'small number' of lawmakers and peers, or members of parliament's upper House of Lords. Police enquiries were expected to focus on politicians accused of deliberately misleading the authorities or claiming repayments for 'phantom mortgages.' A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said: 'After consideration by the joint Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service assessment panel, the Met has decided to launch an investigation into the alleged misuse of expenses by a small number of MPs and peers.' The announcement follows weeks of leaks in The Daily Telegraph newspaper showing lawmakers had claimed for everything from a duck island to cleaning a moat at a country home. But the most serious abuses involved claims for mortgage payments on second homes. While the police did not reveal any names, the BBC and Sky News television reported that two lawmakers from the governing Labour Party, David Chaytor and Elliot Morley, were under scrutiny. Both men have already announced they will stand down after it emerged they claimed interest payments for home loans that had already been paid off. Morley was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party after admitting he had claimed 16,000 pounds (19,000 euros, 26,500 dollars) for a home loan that had already been paid off. Chaytor said he would pay back 13,000 pounds after continuing to submit claims for monthly repayments of 1,175 pounds for a loan he had already completed. He described it as an 'unforgivable error.' 'I've said all along that I would cooperate fully with an investigation. I want to explain my case, explain what happened,' he told BBC television. 'I've acknowledged that there is an error here and I want to clear my name.' The investigation will be overseen by Janet Williams, the Metropolitan Police's temporary assistant commissioner. Officers may have to be able to prove that individuals misled parliament's Fees Office. Lawmakers came in for fresh criticism Thursday after details of their expenses' claims were officially published but most contained heavily blacked-out passages, prompting allegations of censorship. At a European Union summit in Brussels, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the blacking-out was 'part of the old system' and insisted he was committed to 'maximum transparency' in the expense claims. 'We are dealing with the problems that have arisen yesterday in the new proposals we are putting forward,' he said at a news conference. 'The redacted expenses were part of the old system; that cannot be the new system. The old system is being swept aside by the changes that we are making and a new, far more transparent system, is being introduced. 'While ensuring that security issues are addressed, as they have to be, our first principle must be maximum transparency.' One of the highest profile victims of the scandal was House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin, who was forced out following criticism of his handling of the expenses issue. 