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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Call for MEPs' cash fraud probe | Call for MEPs' cash fraud probe |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The EU's anti-fraud office has been urged to investigate the way MEPs spend money given to them to pay their staff. | The EU's anti-fraud office has been urged to investigate the way MEPs spend money given to them to pay their staff. |
| A secret internal audit is reported to have found that MEPs are not accounting properly for the £100m a year allocated to staff costs. | A secret internal audit is reported to have found that MEPs are not accounting properly for the £100m a year allocated to staff costs. |
| The call for a probe came from Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies who said very large sums of money were involved. | The call for a probe came from Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies who said very large sums of money were involved. |
| In one case an unnamed MEP reportedly took money but employed no-one, and another had just one member of staff. | In one case an unnamed MEP reportedly took money but employed no-one, and another had just one member of staff. |
| Mr Davies is one of a group of MEPs on the European Parliament's Budget Control Committee who were allowed to look at the report under surveillance and without taking notes or copies. | |
| "This report is dynamite - and makes the Derek Conway affair at Westminster look like small change," said Mr Davies. | |
| "When I looked at this report my first reaction was to laugh at the outrageous extent of the abuses. | |
| "Then that feeling turned to anger and the realisation that the police or the anti-fraud people should be looking at this." | |
| Direct payments | Direct payments |
| Every MEP is eligible for about £130,000 a year to pay for staff. | Every MEP is eligible for about £130,000 a year to pay for staff. |
| One MEP who has seen the report said that direct payments had been made to political parties by MEPs, he said. | One MEP who has seen the report said that direct payments had been made to political parties by MEPs, he said. |
| There are apparently many cases of MEPs failing to make social security payments for alleged employees. | There are apparently many cases of MEPs failing to make social security payments for alleged employees. |
| BBC News Europe correspondent Johnny Dymond said the audit had thrown up some very uncomfortable examples of sloppy administration at best, and fraud at worst. | BBC News Europe correspondent Johnny Dymond said the audit had thrown up some very uncomfortable examples of sloppy administration at best, and fraud at worst. |
| Franz Bruner, director general of Olaf, the EU's internal anti-fraud squad, said he was launching an inquiry and had demanded to see the audit report by the end of this week. | |
| A spokesman for the parliament's president declined to comment on a report which he said was as yet unpublished. | A spokesman for the parliament's president declined to comment on a report which he said was as yet unpublished. |
| The details are due to be discussed by the budget control committee on Tuesday. |