Ukip’s former leader and MEP Nigel Farage is being fined half of his monthly salary from the European Parliament after auditors concluded that European funds had been misused:

The former Ukip leader … will lose €40,000 (£35,500) in total, the Guardian has learned, after European parliament auditors concluded he had misspent that amount of EU funds. As a result, he has been docked half his monthly salary.The paper says that the former UKIP leader, who recently bemoaned being “53, separated and skint”, will lose €40,000 (£35,500) in total after European parliament auditors concluded he had misspent that amount of EU funds:UKIP have used the European Parliament as a means of funding their political activities for too long. Farage’s pension is understood to be worth £73,000 a year and he will also be entitled to a transitional allowance worth £117,000 when he steps down as an MEP in 2019, as the UK leaves the EU. But it is difficult to know what I can do about it.”

European Parliament investigators decided last year to suspend the contract of Farage’s then Brussels assistant Christopher Adams. Mr Farage and seven other Ukip MEPs were last February accused of spending money meant to fund their offices on Ukip party matters – leading the Parliament’s financial watchdog to launch an investigation. Under current EU rules, full-time assistants to MEPs are not allowed to do paid work for national parties, while part-time assistants must have their second jobs, even voluntary ones, vetted by the European Parliament watchdog to prevent conflicts of interest. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. But, if MEPs fail to “provide any justification or proof” that their funded assistants are only carrying out EU-related duties, “then the administration may recover the money by withholding part of the MEP’s salary.”

A spokesman for the Eeuroskeptic Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group (EFDD) told the Independent: “There is a vindictive campaign by the European Parliament of selective persecution of Euroskeptic MEPs, parties and groups. “Since 1 January [2018] the European parliament has withheld 50 percent in order to recoup the €40,000 (US$48,692) due in salary that was paid to Christopher Adams and which cannot be proved by Farage,” a parliamentary source told the Guardian. As Farage has reportedly failed to provide proof of Adams’ work as parliamentary assistant, the EU is now docking the Brexiteer’s pre-tax monthly pay of €8,484 (US$10,328) per month in a bid to recoup the lost funds.
After European Parliament auditors conclude that he used a parliamentary assistant for UKIP party matters instead of for work related to the duties of a Member of the European Parliament, Nigel Farage will now pay back £35,500 (€40,000) through having half of his salary withheld.