Ex-MEP pays back EUR 11,000 after ‘oversight’

By Martin Banks

Date: 20/055/04

TWO high-profile former MEPs have been accused of misuse of their Parliamentary allowances, in the latest twist to a scandal of alleged expenses fiddling which has tarnished the image of the European Parliament just weeks before the elections.

Dutch Transport Minister Karla Peijs, who quit as an MEP last summer to take up her government post, agreed this week to pay back more than €11,000 to Parliament following allegations in the Dutch media that she pocketed money earmarked for staff expenses during her term as an MEP.

One of the staff members she employed also worked for a member of the Dutch parliament and, according to press reports, the MP paid her 'share' of the employee's salary into an account which turned out to be Peijs' private bank account.

Peijs, who had been a centre-right deputy since 1989 and was a member of the Parliament's transport committee, agreed to pay back the sum, but refutes the allegation of pocketing money earmarked for staff expenses. She says it was simply an oversight, which she has corrected by repaying the cash.

A Dutch MEP, who did not wish to be named, commented: "You've got to ask why it took Peijs 12 months to decide she was going to pay back this money.

"It is strange that she only paid it back when the 'oversight' came to light in the media."

Another Dutch former MEP, Lousewies van der Laan, has been accused of using her members' staff allowance to pay for a communications training course as part of her campaign to become a national parliamentarian last year.

Van der Laan, who is now an MP, insists she has done nothing wrong, saying the course had nothing to do with her election campaign.

The revelations come a week after UK Tory deputy Bashir Khanbhai had his name removed from the party's list of candidates for next month's European elections because of a row over his travel allowances claims.

A former Dutch MEP, Karla Peijs, has agreed to repay more than €11,000 to the European Parliament following allegations in Dutch newspapers that she had kept money meant to be spent on staff expenses during her term as an MEP. Another former Dutch MEP, Lousewies van der Laan, has also been accused of misusing Parliamentary allowances.