This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/15/nigel-farage-rejects-outrageous-eu-expenses-allegations

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Nigel Farage rejects 'outrageous' EU expenses allegations Nigel Farage rejects 'outrageous' EU expenses allegations
(about 11 hours later)
Nigel Farage has rejected "outrageous" claims that his taxpayer-funded EU office expenses of around £15,000 a year are too high. A defiant Nigel Farage has rejected "outrageous" claims that he misused taxpayer cash from the European Union and argued that MEPs have a free rein to use around £3,500 a month "as we see fit".
The Ukip leader is facing questions about his use of the EU parliamentary expenses system after it emerged that he pays no rent on a small Bognor Regis property designated as his UK office. The Ukip leader, an MEP for South East England, said he had spent his European parliamentary allowances on furthering the cause of leaving the EU and not used it for personal gain like buying a house, car or vintage wine with the money.
Between 2009 and 2013, Farage claimed between £13,000 and £20,000 a year in office management and running costs for the site, averaging around £15,000 a year. Controversy about Farage's expenses blew up after the Times claimed he had received an estimated £60,000 more in EU allowances for running an office than he paid in costs for the rent-free property in Lyminster, near Bognor Regis, between July 2009 and December 2013.
However, a former office manager told the Times that upkeep of the converted grain store in terms of bills and other non-rental costs only amounted to around £3,000 a year, leaving around £12,000 a year unaccounted for. Reports published on his website show an average of £1,300 a month in allowances went towards "office management and running" during that period. But in its Tuesday edition the newspaper quoted David Samuel-Camps, a former manager of the office, as saying utilities, business rates and insurance came to only £250 a month.
Farage hit back in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, arguing he legitimately made use of flat-rate "allowances" from EU funds, which do not amount to expenses. He also said he would be prepared to have his expenses checked by an auditor "if that would settle the matter". Subsequently Samuel-Camps, in a letter published by Ukip, said he had been misquoted and the actual figure for office costs was higher, with overall costs of around £700 per month – although even in this case, the figure is still below the average of £1,300 month that Farage's own records said he had drawn from EU funds under the heading of "office management and running".
MEPs can spend these allowances "how we see fit", he said. Farage said the level of the office costs was more like £1,000 a month and argued it was justified as electricity bills for the property were high because of "banks of computers" being run.
"I'm sorry, but this whole story and even the line of questioning here is simply wrong," he said. "Let's get this right from the start shall we? We do not claim expenses for running offices or any other activity that takes place within our member state the United Kingdom; we get an allowance, a fixed-rate allowance, and we can spend it how we see fit." The Ukip leader also argued that MEPs were not claiming expenses but were given flat-rate amounts by the EU to use at their discretion, so there was no requirement for the allowances to be used for a specific purpose or receipts to be provided.
"It is £3,580 a month, and that is given to every MEP; we can spend it how we want to, we don't have to provide receipts for it or anything like that. We are given recommendations as to what it can legitimately be spent on, which include the running of an office, paying for a mobile phone, buying equipment, hotel bills, restaurant bills, applying for subscriptions to websites, buying newspapers, there's a list as long as your arm on what this money can legitimately be spent on." Farage also said he was a "turkey voting for Christmas" because he wanted the whole system of EU expenses and allowances to be scrapped and Britain to withdraw. He also offered to have his finances audited if it would settle the matter.
Farage said he had always been open about using the EU cash to fight against Britain's membership while staying within the rules. EU funds must be used for the member to carry out his or her duties as an MEP, but Farage said he considered part of his job to campaign against the UK's membership of the EU.
He said he was taking legal advice about the Times story, accusing it of launching a politically motivated attack because it was an "establishment" newspaper. He told the BBC: "I haven't bought a house, I haven't bought a car, I haven't bought vintage wine. I haven't done any of these things – I've used it to keep me on the road as the most active British MEP there has been in the United Kingdom over the course of the last 15 years. I have travelled more miles, I have spoken at more meetings, I have met more people than any other British MEP."
"We have seen article after article like this and the Times are wilfully misleading people into thinking that I have claimed office expenses from Brussels – I haven't," he said. Drawing a distinction between his conduct and that of MPs in the expenses scandal, he added: "I haven't claimed for a taxpayer-funded mortgage, I haven't claimed for horse manure, I haven't claimed for a duck house. "
On Monday night, Ukip said Farage was "confident that he has abided by European parliamentary rules at all times when spending allowances". However, the Electoral Commission said it would be writing to him to find out whether he should have declared the arrangement for rent-free office accommodation as a benefit-in-kind. "We're going to write to him and basically ask for clarifiation around whether it's a donation that needs to be reported," a spokesman for the commission said.
Earlier, the Times reported that he had said: "I don't pay rent on the office but I obviously pay for everything else, whether it's the burglar alarm or electricity." MEPs earn a salary of £79,000 a year, about £250 per day every time they turn up to the European parliament. Their office allowances are around £42,600 a year, although some MEPs, such as the Green party's Keith Taylor, publish all receipts and return any unused cash at the end of the year.
He also disputed claims by the former grain store manager, saying: "About £1,000 a month is roughly what it is. Exceptionally, I put more money in as and when it's needed." MEPs also get staff allowances of almost £200,000 per year paid through an independent agent, which some use to employ family members. Farage himself employs his wife, Kirsten, on a salary of up to £20,000 a year. A complaint about the office costs has also been submitted to Olaf, the EU's expenses and allowances watchdog, but a spokesman for the organisation said it could not comment on whether there would be an inquiry into Farage.
The newspaper reported that Farage had been referred to the European expenses watchdog by a former Ukip official over how he had spent around £60,000 of office expenses since transparency declarations about expenses began in 2009. Ukip's response to the furore also included a direct attack on the Times, saying the article was part of a series of politically motivated stories. Farage also said he was taking legal advice and the party website published a critical list of some of the newspaper's journalists involved in the story and others who simply work at the newspaper. "Perhaps it will not surprise you to know that most have family or personal connections to the Conservative party and that the majority are from immensely privileged backgrounds that have enabled them to prosper as part of the 'chumocracy' run by David Cameron," the party claimed.
MEPs are not required to provide receipts proving how they spend their expenses, with the EU saying it is a "matter of honour" that they are spent correctly. Some of its criticisms were that the journalists were "privately educated" or had family members who were Tories. At the top of the list, it singled out Lord Finkelstein, a Conservative peer who is also a columnist and is close to George Osborne and David Cameron.
David Samuel-Camps, Farage's former office manager who spoke to the Times, later claimed he had been misquoted. He said Farage's office costs were originally "some £2,000" a month and were later reduced to around £700 a month - or £8,400 a year. He also disputed the idea that utilities, insurance and business rates came to as little as £250. Rebuffing the suggestion, Tim Montgomerie, the newspaper's comment editor and a former editor of the ConservativeHome website, tweeted: "Did you see The Times splashes calling for Maria Miller [the Conservative former culture secretary] to resign? "
"At no time did I say that 'electricity, heating, and business rates at the office totalled less than £250 a month'. I told you that I could not remember the individual amounts as it was over four years ago but they would have been in the region of £200 each," Samuel-Camps wrote to the newspaper. Meanwhile, Lord Finklestein mocked the list by tweeting: "Mine is best I think, though Alice [Thomson's] "the wife of the nephew of" is funniest."
The Times has now replied saying that its story only makes claims about what Farage claimed in "office management and running costs", which refers to rent, utilities, insurance business rates and cleaning - amounting to around £15,500 a year or about £1,300 a month.
The newspaper wrote back to Samuel-Camps saying: "You said that utilities and insurance amounted to less than £100 a month and that council tax/business rates were £150 (I looked it up and it was £149 a month for the current financial year 2013). Hence the figure of £250 a month, which is £3,000 a year."
The allegations emerged with Ukip riding high in the polls while the Conservatives appeared to have taken a hit over former culture secretary Maria Miller's wrongly-claimed expenses.
The Ukip leader said Miller had "taken the mickey out of the system" and called for David Cameron to introduce powers for the public to sack MPs over serious wrongdoing.
Challenged about Ukip's own expenses scandals among MEPs, he said: "In the cases of the two individuals who behaved badly, I removed the whip and kicked them out of the party a long time before they were found guilty of anything."