The scandal ended Dame Shirley's political career

Metropolitan Police said they were liaising with the Crown Prosecution Service after receiving a letter demanding an inquiry into her conduct.

Dame Shirley reached an agreement with Westminster City Council to pay back �12.3m after a dispute to recover �42m.

Peter Bradley MP has asked the Met for a formal inquiry into Dame Shirley.

I don't believe that a different rule should apply here, if we are given a fine we have to pay it back in full Peter Bradley MP

The complaint involves an affidavit signed by Dame Shirley during Westminster's lengthy legal battle to recover the money, in which she is understood to have sworn that she was worth only �300,000.

Mr Bradley, a former Westminster councillor, has asked the Met to investigate the possibility that Dame Shirley either committed perjury, when she signed the affidavit, or that she attempted to pervert the course of justice by lodging funds with other individuals in order to keep it out of the reach of the UK jurisdiction.

Mr Bradley told BBC News Online: "I wrote a letter to the police commissioner because it was announced in April that Westminster Council had reached an agreement with Shirley Porter that she would pay back �12m which I don't believe is an adequate contribution.

"I don't believe that a different rule should apply here, if we are given a fine we have to pay it back in full."

Dame Shirley, who now lives in Israel, played a key role in a scheme that sold off council homes to potential Tory voters in the 1980s.

The Tesco heiress was later accused of "disgraceful and improper gerrymandering" by district auditor John Magill, but was cleared by the Court of Appeal in 1999.