Europerks plus

Via the excellent Berlaymonster, this wonderful story right slap bang in the EU election campaign:

14 EU fonctionnaires investigated for suspected injury benefit fraud have been awarded an extra 3000 euros each from the taxpayer, after it transpired the EU's fraud watchdog failed to tell the accident-prone civil servants that they were to face criminal proceedings in Italy.

The ruling is the culmination of investigations dating back to 2002 into suspected widespread benefit plundering at the EU's Joint Research Centre, based out of the Italian town of Ispra on the shore of Lake Maggiore.

In an initial 2002 audit, 230 JRC eurocrats - one fifth of the total headcount there - were found to be claiming a permanent partial invalidity.

5.7 million euros were disbursed to the accident-prone staff between 1996 and 2002.
On average this worked out at around 25 000 euros each.

Go read the rest.

On the subject of the EU and fraud, South East candidate for the UK Independence Party, Marta Andreasen, will be appearing on Question Time on the 21st May. You might remember her, she used to be the chief accountant of the EU who was fired by Neil Kinnock et al for doing her job. Former chief accountant and now she's standing for UKIP.

All of you who want to send a message, who want to stop fraud, or try to, in the EU, who want someone strong to take on the bureaucrats and commissioners couldn't do better than vote for Marta. They don't want her to be there holding them to account, telling it how it is and so it's your duty to ensure that it happens.

Even if you're not that political you must see how that would annoy them.