Friday

29th Mar 2024

British Tory MEP punished in expenses affair

The British Conservative party has expelled MEP Den Dover after he paid hundreds of thousands of euros to a company run by his wife and daughter.

The move bars Mr Dover, a 70-year old from northwest England who works on the industry committee and the parliament's delegation to Canada, from running in next year's European elections.

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  • The European Parliament headquarters - a report has suggested there is lax control over expenses (Photo: European Parliament)

The expulsion came after the European Parliament ordered him to repay over €600,000 and asked OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud unit, to make further investigations, British media write.

Mr Dover's financial dealings first came to light in a Sunday Times article in March. Later reports indicated that over the course of seven years, the MEP channelled €925,000 in parliamentary allowances to MP Holdings, which paid for two BMWs and renovated houses used by the family.

Mr Dover - who is free to appeal the Conservative party decision - at the time said that his wife and daughter did secretarial work for his office.

The Conservative party in June also forced MEP Giles Chichester to resign as the head of the party's delegation to Brussels after he paid €540,000 to a company of which he was a director. The European Parliament later cleared him of wrongdoing.

A further three Conservative MEPs, John Purvis, Robert Atkins and Sajjad Karim, also defended themselves this year over using EU money to pay family companies and relatives or make private trips.

MEPs' wages are paid by national parliaments but the European Parliament allows deputies to claim around €340,000 a year in expenses for staff, office costs, maintenance and accommodation.

An internal European Parliament report in February suggested there is lax control of the allowances scheme, citing examples where MEP assistants' wages were used to pay for daycare services or wood.

The parliament voted to keep the report secret but asked OLAF to look into its contents.

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