In An Organisation As Corrupt As The Eu...

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-31976343
How was this spotted? I mean they can't find an accountant bent enough to sign off the accounts for 15 years but they can spot a dodgy expense claim! Talk about penny wise and pound foolish!

[EDDIE51]

UKIP euro MPs at it again. Milking the system they say dispise.

[Svejk]

25 years, I think.

[ToraToraTora]

I stand corrected Svejk!

[Gromit]

The thing is, it wasn't spotted. This MEPS and probably many others have been inflating their expenses and the EU just pay it out of our taxpayers money.
This instance has come to light because the request for an inflated bill was recorded on a mobile phone.

[youngmafbog]

Well it's UKIP, the left wing Eurocrats will go out of their way to find something.

I'm not condoning the expense issue, but like you say given the massive corruption in the EU it is very suspicious that this is politically motivated.

[Peter Pedant]

hmmm sounz as tho UKIP are at it again....

£3k receipt for lunchie poos - surely someone would think it was a bit inflated ?

[Peter Pedant]

yeah ! Farage should get in there and sort their accounts out !

[Gromit]

Left wing Eurocrats?

This has been uncovered by the Sun newspaper.

[New Judge]

The telling thing about this is not that it is a UKIP MEP because I doubt that Ms Atkinson is alone in operating her fraud. It is clear that the EU paymasters operate little or no control over the huge sums of taxpayers’ dosh that they dole out. Anyone with half a brain would query how a restaurant bill for a meal in Margate could come to £3k (you could buy an entire restaurant in that town for a few bob more). This issue is indicative of the huge corruption, fraud and lack of scrutiny that comes with that wretched organisation.

Also apparent is the delusions of grandeur from which MEPs seem to suffer. Apparently the inflated bill was not requested by Ms Atkinson personally (heaven forbid!) but instead was requested by her “chief of staff”, Christine Hewitt. Why on earth should an MEP require a “chief of staff”. This term is used to describe a senior military officer or, in civvy street, a senior manager or director in a large organisation. I can’t imagine Ms Atkinson has such a large workforce attending to her every need that she needs a “chief of staff”.

Ms Hewitt is heard to say: "The idea is we overcharge them slightly, because that's the way we repatriate it." It is not known whether Ms Atkinson knew or authorised her staff member's apparent actions. Nigel Farage said "I spoke to her after midnight and she said it was all to do with bills and fundraising - I was frankly confused by it all.".

It seems that Ms Atkinson either does not know that her “chief of staff” is requesting inflated bills for her guvnor’s expenses (highly unlikely) or if she does she is trying to justify the fraud by saying that it is a legitimate way to “repatriate” funds from the EU to her pocket.

Of course none of this would have happened had the EU not had these funds to dole out in the first place. Then they would not need "repatriating" either by legitimate of illicit means.

[New Judge]

And one further thing that has sprung to mind is that this meal for which £3k was charged was taken before UKIP's spring conference which I believe took place in that town. Why are EU taxpayers funding agreeable dinners for party delegates at their conferences?

[bazwillrun]

The bigger the organisation the greater and the larger the extent of the corruption.

The eussr learnt everything it needed from the UN, theyve been perfecting the art of corruption for decades.

[Gromit]

New Judge,

There are clearly two separate issues here.
Firstly, UKIP are breaking EU rules by using an MEP's personal expenses to fund a UKIP party function. UKIP the party do get funds from the EU, but that money was not used for this event. The Expenses claim (if it was made) was not an allowable expense.

Secondly, obtaining a receipt/invoice for 3 times what was actually spent is clearly fraud and a criminal offence. If it was then used to obtain money (an expenses claim) that is deception.

I believe the police are now involved so we will have to see what happens next.

[mikey4444]

In a earlier quote this morning from Farage on the BBC News website, he said that when they ( UKIP) finds something like this, they comes down like a "tonne" of bricks on people.

Nice to see Farage embracing the Euro ton !

[mikey4444]

Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse for Farage :::::

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-31986981

[Svejk]

I could put 20 'liblabcon' stories a week on here but people would soon get bored and, strangely, keep voting for them.

[mikey4444]

By the way, for those that may have missed this, Janice Atkinson is the same person who survived being given the sack last September, for the infamous "ting tong incident !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-29039503

[Peter Pedant]

the ting tong incident

as 3T or AOG would say - every time she opens her mouth it is worth a million votes more for UKIP....