barrabus Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 What is the difference and why have MP,s not been prosecuted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lorne Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 What is the difference and why have MP,s not been prosecuted ...link...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHERWICK Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 What is the difference and why have MP,s not been prosecuted Because, if we applied the same standards to MPs, then they'd all be in prison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jadoube Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 What is the difference and why have MP,s not been prosecuted a question of degree? Technically he was actively falsifying expense claims whereas the MP's are claiming expenses that were approved by a badly distorted process. An analogy might be be that the MP's shot an intruder, while this MEP invited somebody into his house with the explicit intention of shooting them as an intruder. Which is not to say one is OK and the other is not, merely that this MEP is more blatantly wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 He broke the law, the MP's didn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellerkat Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Disgraced ex-Ukip MEP Tom Wise jailed for two years for expenses fraud UKIP. Why do I find that amusing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Disgraced ex-Ukip MEP Tom Wise jailed for two years for expenses fraud UKIP. Why do I find that amusing? UKIP strategy: bring the EU parliament into disrepute. Wonder if their new BNP colleagues will join them in that effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monks Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 The MP's you talk about made an honest oversight in every day accountancy... NOW GIVE THEM A BREAK WILL YOU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayo Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 (edited) He broke the law, the MP's didn't. The MEP was caught in respect to an allowance and not an expense. MEP claims £3k month office allowance and uses £2k on wine on fast cars. MP claims £400 per month for food while the house is in recess and spends £200 on shoes and fast women. Lots of people have said MPs can't be touched over allowances (rather than expenses) but this case proves that they can. The guy was also a former policeman, but however bad it gets remember it isn't Italy! Edited November 11, 2009 by Wayo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porca misèria Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 The MEP was caught in respect to an allowance and not an expense. MEP claims £3k month office allowance and uses £2k on wine on fast cars. MP claims £400 per month for food while the house is in recess and spends £200 on shoes and fast women. Lots of people have said MPs can't be touched over allowances (rather than expenses) but this case proves that they can. The guy was also a former policeman, but however bad it gets remember it isn't Italy! Speaking as someone who spent most of the 1990s in Italy as they put lots of corrupt politicians in prison .... The difference in Italy is that elected politicians hold much more administrative power than here. In the UK it's civil servants and lawyers who hold the real power. The reason our politicians are, on average, less corrupt than theirs is that our centre of corruption is the judiciary, not government. And since our judiciary are explicitly above the law, we don't "risk" the kind of cleanup the Italians had before Berlusconi exempted himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayo Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Speaking as someone who spent most of the 1990s in Italy as they put lots of corrupt politicians in prison .... The difference in Italy is that elected politicians hold much more administrative power than here. In the UK it's civil servants and lawyers who hold the real power. The reason our politicians are, on average, less corrupt than theirs is that our centre of corruption is the judiciary, not government. And since our judiciary are explicitly above the law, we don't "risk" the kind of cleanup the Italians had before Berlusconi exempted himself. As we haven't had any such clean up I'd be interested what corruption you think there is in the judiciary? MPs seem quite at home passing laws to exempt themselves from FoI and various tax laws. But compared with the state of Italy either today or in the 1990s, Donnygate, peers for sale and cash for questions look more like minor traffic offences in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Beauty Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Disgraced ex-Ukip MEP Tom Wise jailed for two years for expenses fraud UKIP. Why do I find that amusing? Yes, a sizeable chunk of UKIP MEPs end up being jailed for fraud - Ashley Mote set the trend a couple of years back: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Mote It must be something about UKIPs strong stand against EU fraud which sucks in fraudsters who cannot resist the hypocrisy, excitement and devilment of concealing their ill gotten gains Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrpleasant Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Cue Bob Monkhouse joke: 'Politics' From the Greek word 'poly' meaning many, and 'tics' meaning blood-sucking parasites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Lorne Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 Disgraced ex-Ukip MEP Tom Wise jailed for two years for expenses fraud UKIP. Why do I find that amusing? ...thanks for the link...looks like a good precedent ....some MPs will be troubled tonight... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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