Sunday, May 05, 2019
EU recovers £200,000 from Ukip MEPs accused of misusing funds
This headline could prove to be a fitting epitaph for UKIP as polls indicate they will lose most of their seats in the European Parliament and be supplanted by the Brexit Party.
Nevertheless it illustrates quite neatly how those most vehemently opposed to the European Parliament are prepared to exploit it to finance their political activities.
If it hadn't been going on so long and if the label was not so familiar by now, we might want to accuse them of hypocrisy. Unfortunately, the perpetrators have too thick a hide for such accusations to have any traction.
As the Guardian reports, the European parliament has recovered more than £200,000 from UKIP MEPs accused of misusing public funds through payments to party workers. But with three weeks to go until European elections, time is running out to recoup money from others alleged to have broken EU rules.
They add that the parliament has suspended the pay of two staff attached to UKIP’s former leader Paul Nuttall and his fellow North West England MEP Louise Bours. Neither MEP is standing for re-election on 23 May, which could make it harder for officials to recover money:
Since the Guardian revealed the parliament’s investigation into UKIP misspending in 2017, £202,667 has been recovered from two current MEPs and one former one.
Nigel Farage was docked half his MEP’s salary for 10 months in 2018, and he is judged to have repaid a £39,653 debt to the EU. European parliament financial controllers said Farage broke the rules by paying a UKIP party worker with EU funds meant to pay for staffing of his MEP office. Farage, who left UKIP in December and now leads the Brexit party, has always denied the charge.
Raymond Finch was docked £61,650 of his MEP’s salary over the employment of two assistants, including Farage’s estranged wife, Kirsten.
Roger Helmer, who stood down as an MEP in 2017 when allegations against him emerged, lost £101,364 of a transition allowance for former MEPs.
While Nuttall and Bours could lose their transitional allowances, it is not clear whether this would be enough to cover the alleged losses from the EU budget.
Elected in 2014, Bours would be entitled to a €40,949 (£35,025) after-tax transition payment, while Nuttall’s stint as an MEP since 2009 could entitle him to €68,428. The payments are based on the length of time served as an MEP, but are not meant to be claimed by ex-politicians with another job or pension. Earlier calculations put repayment demands on then UKIP MEPs at around £500,000, but cases against two were later closed without any action.
All MEPs have strenuously rejected claims that the rules were broken. Their bloc in the European parliament, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, has previously described the investigation as “a vindictive campaign” against Eurosceptic MEPs.
All of this is worth bearing in mind when voting on 23rd May. Questions should be asked of anti-EU candidates as to their attitude to receiving money from a body they want to abolish.
Nevertheless it illustrates quite neatly how those most vehemently opposed to the European Parliament are prepared to exploit it to finance their political activities.
If it hadn't been going on so long and if the label was not so familiar by now, we might want to accuse them of hypocrisy. Unfortunately, the perpetrators have too thick a hide for such accusations to have any traction.
As the Guardian reports, the European parliament has recovered more than £200,000 from UKIP MEPs accused of misusing public funds through payments to party workers. But with three weeks to go until European elections, time is running out to recoup money from others alleged to have broken EU rules.
They add that the parliament has suspended the pay of two staff attached to UKIP’s former leader Paul Nuttall and his fellow North West England MEP Louise Bours. Neither MEP is standing for re-election on 23 May, which could make it harder for officials to recover money:
Since the Guardian revealed the parliament’s investigation into UKIP misspending in 2017, £202,667 has been recovered from two current MEPs and one former one.
Nigel Farage was docked half his MEP’s salary for 10 months in 2018, and he is judged to have repaid a £39,653 debt to the EU. European parliament financial controllers said Farage broke the rules by paying a UKIP party worker with EU funds meant to pay for staffing of his MEP office. Farage, who left UKIP in December and now leads the Brexit party, has always denied the charge.
Raymond Finch was docked £61,650 of his MEP’s salary over the employment of two assistants, including Farage’s estranged wife, Kirsten.
Roger Helmer, who stood down as an MEP in 2017 when allegations against him emerged, lost £101,364 of a transition allowance for former MEPs.
While Nuttall and Bours could lose their transitional allowances, it is not clear whether this would be enough to cover the alleged losses from the EU budget.
Elected in 2014, Bours would be entitled to a €40,949 (£35,025) after-tax transition payment, while Nuttall’s stint as an MEP since 2009 could entitle him to €68,428. The payments are based on the length of time served as an MEP, but are not meant to be claimed by ex-politicians with another job or pension. Earlier calculations put repayment demands on then UKIP MEPs at around £500,000, but cases against two were later closed without any action.
All MEPs have strenuously rejected claims that the rules were broken. Their bloc in the European parliament, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, has previously described the investigation as “a vindictive campaign” against Eurosceptic MEPs.
All of this is worth bearing in mind when voting on 23rd May. Questions should be asked of anti-EU candidates as to their attitude to receiving money from a body they want to abolish.
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Your last paragraph is also relevant to Farages party. Yes be an MEP but take no money off the EU which you wish to be rid of.Hypocrisy. Otherwise you are only lining your own pockets.
Equally Farage goes to the US discussing problems in Oldhams streets. Was he touting for funds? Would these funds be declared as illegal?
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Equally Farage goes to the US discussing problems in Oldhams streets. Was he touting for funds? Would these funds be declared as illegal?
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