Former Tory MEP Den Dover ordered to repay £345,289 for 'unjustified' expenses claims
Former Conservative North West MEP Den Dover has been hit with a bill of £345,289 from the European Court of Justice after it ruled it was paid out for "unjustified" claims.
It is the latest in a long running story over his allowances.
Mr Dover, 72, an MEP from 1999 to 2009, was suspended and then expelled from the party in November 2008 for "gross misconduct" after the Parliament demanded repayment of £538,000 in allowances officials said should not have been claimed.
He stood down at the 2009 European elections and launched an appeal in the European Court against the decision by European Parliament administrators to seek the return of the cash.
The Luxembourg judges found that he should pay back part of the amount - but said the European Parliament had not sufficiently demonstrated that the rest was unjustified.
The MEP has denied any wrongdoing over expenses he claimed between 1999 and 2008, when a total of £959,446 went to a company called MP Holdings Ltd, which names Mr Dover's wife and daughter as directors.
The money came from allowances MEPs receive to pay the salaries and costs of an MEP's staff.
In 2008 the Parliament's secretary-general raised questions about a possible conflict of interest and asked for full details of the use of parliamentary funds claimed by Mr Dover.
A ruling followed that only £421,156 could be justified in salaries, national insurance and legitimate staff travel expenses. The rest was "without justification" said the Parliament, and it asked for the balance of £538,290 back.
Mr Dover told the court it was up to the Parliament to prove that the payments were unjustified, pointing out in court submissions that "the requirement to provide documentation justifying each item of expenditure since 1999 did not exist when the relevant expenses were incurred".
He said the European Parliament was aware that his wife and daughter held managerial positions in MP Holdings, and claimed that it has never "implemented a transparent system setting out clear preconditions for reimbursement of parliamentary assistance expenditure or required Members to produce documentary evidence of their parliamentary assistance expenditure".
Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies has also blogged on the topic, read his post HERE.
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David Bartlett
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I don't see the problem here. This guy is a cheat, a thief, and should be in jail. But he's a Tory. What were people expecting?
And what about Labour's record with expenses?
And what can they expect from you, writing under a rediculous name, behind closed doors?
Care to comment?
Come now, Gerard, dear boy. You're getting overly flustered by this "Ronnie" chap. Pull that chair up and join me for a hot-cross bun and a cup of freshly-brewed tea. Now...can we all get back to the real world please? I've got a lot of Romanesque poetry to get through before Evensong.
Prof. Hope - I adore this image of the hot cross buns etc. Evensong - wow, that takes me back. Your writing style is almost...very reminicent of an old friend.
Its unfair of other people to band around names of Labour Councillors like that however. What i'm trying to achieve here is ending this charade of names, for the individual to come forward and say 'yes, this is me' and be clear as to what he/she believes and stands for. Accountability, in short.
It was after a posting by "Ronnie" a few blog articles back, when this person with venom, quite unduly, reeled off names of my friends, and attacked them based on personal character rather than political stances.
I'm not stupid; I know they won't come forward, but at least I can point out the cowardice of this person who has yet to respond to the request, and i'm sure would be far more interested in pointing our spelling or grammatical mistakes than coming out of the shadows.
Gerard, who are you? Why don't you give your full name? Are you part of the defunct Dude the Dog mob who ran that odious anonymous Lib Dem blog site based upon personal attack?
Now, Gerard, where was I? Sorry about the long blink...must have been the Evensong. Went on a bit longer than I'd expected. Oh yes, put another couple of coals on the fire would you, dear boy. There's a bit of a chill around the quad this evening. What's that? I gave you the wrong name before? Silly me. I must have a quiet chat with the Bursar...he's usually so reliable. Never mind. The truth is, of course, that it wasn't James Noakes at all. Apparently, it's some chap called Names Jokes. Yes, I thought it was a bit odd too. Still, you get all sorts here these days. Another hot-cross bun?
...as long as the Port is flowing, certainly.