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European MPs earning £1 million profits in a term, report finds
 Members of the European Parliament are earning up to £1 million in profit in just one five-year term in office through expenses and allowances, a leaked report has revealed. The report sparked calls for a police investigation into the systematic abuse of taxpayers' money.The internal report into the system of allowances - conducted by Robert Galvin, a European Union internal audit official - was kept secret when it was carried out last year. But a leaked copy of the 92-page document details the full extent of "corruption, dodgy dealing and poor financial controls" in the European Parliament, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance. It revealed that some MEPs claimed money for assistants that were neither accredited nor registered with the parliament. Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Having acquired the report, we felt it was right to publish it so taxpayers across the EU could see the widespread evidence of corruption, dodgy dealing and poor financial controls in the European Parliament. "It should never have been kept secret, and there must now be a proper investigation by the police. Taxpayers deserve to know how their money is being spent, and if anyone is stealing from them. The EU Parliament must publish the full details of all MEPs' expenses and allowances, and name the people this report found to be ripping taxpayers off." Mr Elliott said each MEP could save more than £1 million from their expenses and pension benefits over a five-year term at the European Parliament. Over five years, each MEP can claim this includes a subsistence allowance of 117,000 Euros, staff allowance of 489,840 Euros, office expenses of 243,120 Euros, travel expenses of 60,000 Euros and an accrued pension of £350,000. This does not include the MEP salary of £63,291, which is set to increase to £73,584 after the European Parliament elections in June 2009. There was also widespread failure to comply with tax, company and social security laws. Nearly 80 per cent of transactions that should have been subject to VAT displayed no evidence of either VAT payment or exemption. In his report, Mr Galvin found that overpayments of parliamentary allowances were common. The investigation discovered a culture of huge "bonuses" being paid to staff members or handling firms at the end of the financial year, ranging from three times to 19 and a half times the employees' monthly salaries. It was also possible to pay large "layoff" payments to the staff of MEPs without any justification being provided. Chris Davies, the Liberal Democrat MEP who last year exposed some of the report's findings, last night said the "overwhelming majority" of MEPs used their staff budget honestly to pay their staff. He said: "It is not true that expenses are being abused by everyone, but voters should ask questions of their representatives. Honesty doesn't pay in this system and the temptations are great. No-one knows who is cheating and who is not, and it is a disgrace that the Parliament has voted to keep auditors' reports secret." Posted by: Fred 2009-02-23 |
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