An investigation shows that former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been misusing the allowance for parliamentary assistants. Half of his salary will be recovered by the European Parliament. The British daily The Guardian reported on Friday that auditors found that Farage last year had used his parliamentary allowances to pay an assistant who was actually working for his party in Britain instead of doing parliamentary work in Strasbourg.
According to Guardian, the assistant was also the national nominating officer for Ukip, where he was described as one of the party’s “key people”.
Nigel Farage must repay a total of 40,000 euros. Since early January only half of his salary has been paid. This should allow the Parliament to recover the money by October.
The Guardian writes that Farage will not leave the Parliament portionless. His pension is understood to be worth £73,000 a year and he will also be entitled to a transitional allowance worth £117,000 when he steps down as an MEP in 2019.
The European Parliament has long scrutinized the activities of parliamentary assistants. Marine Le Pen, the president of the French National Front, is also in limelight. The Parliament wants her to reimburse 340,000 euros to recover the salaries of two assistants who were actually working for the party.
The Brussels Times
