Nigel Farage claimed UKIP was being ‘victimised’ after the party faced a £150,000 bill from the European Union
The party was accused of breaking EU spending rules by splashing cash on its Brexit campaign as well as Mr Farage’s failed bid to get elected as an MP
NIGEL Farage claimed UKIP was being “victimised” as the party faced a whopping £150,000 bill from the European Parliament following a damning audit.
The party was accused of breaking EU spending rules by splashing cash on its Brexit campaign as well as Mr Farage’s failed bid to get elected as an MP.
The leaked audit revealed the UKIP-dominated Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe had “mis-spent” more than £430,000 – most of it in Britain.
The European Commission grants had been spent on polling and analysis in constituencies where the party hoped to win a seat in the General Election.
Rules state the money must be spent on European Parliament business and not on domestic campaigns.
The parliament’s finance watchdog said: “These services were not in the interest of the European party.”
But Mr Farage branded the leak “pure victimisation” last night.
He said: “We’ve been expecting this for years. We are in an environment where rules are wilfully interpreted as suits.
“I’ve understood absolutely the rules. This is pure victimisation. I am the most investigated MEP in history. Look at what the pro-EU groups were spending.”
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A spokesman for the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe said they would be taking the matter to court.
They said: “The parliament administration has for months taken an aggressive and hostile attitude over the audit, amounting to nothing short of deliberate harassment.
“We have responded to their queries with a mass of information and explanation justifying our activities and expenditure."
“They have simply ignored our submissions and in several cases these submissions having been made repeatedly on their request.
“They have broadened the definition of ‘expenditure supporting a political party’ so widely as to deny us the right to undertake any activity which might be remotely interesting to ADDE members.”
But Chuka Umunna MP, chair of the Vote Leave Watch campaign, said: “Nigel Farage should stop posing with Donald Trump in a golden lift and start putting his party’s finances in order.
“Criticising EU spending while breaking the rules to fund your election campaign is the height of hypocrisy.
“Ukip need to pay this money back and apologise to the millions of British taxpayers whose money they misspent on misleading propaganda.”
Last night Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said: “UKIP have spent years accusing the EU of being run by corrupt elites wasting taxpayer’s money. They have now been caught out engaging in the very behaviour they have spent years denouncing.
“The EU rules that UKIP have poured scorn on protect European democracy. These rules are clear: EU funds cannot be used in any form for national campaigning or political party activities.”