Exclusive: EU investigates UKIP re alleged €20m fraud – and child porn

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(EDIT 3 Feb 2017: The Guardian has finally ‘broken’ news of some of these allegations and the OLAF investigation- more than a month after this article – so what the SKWAWKBOX broke, the mainstream caught onto later. In part, at least, as there is a lot more than the Guardian chose to mention, as you’ll see below. One in the eye for the lazy ‘fake news’-shouters.)

It’s a matter of recent (but seemingly little-noticed) record that UKIP was found by an EU audit to have ‘misspent’ (i.e. taken on false premises and spent for things it shouldn’t, which most would call ‘theft’) 450,000 euros of EU funds. The deadline for the party to repay at least €170,000 of that sum passed earlier this month without, as far as can be ascertained, any repayment being made.

What appears not – until now – to be a matter of public record is the fact that UKIP is the subject of a much wider and even graver investigation by the European Commission’s OLAF anti-fraud unit.

For the alleged ‘misspending’/theft of at least 20 million euros – and for alleged involvement with the creation and distribution of child pornography.

A group of current/ex-UKIP whistleblowers has submitted a long and detailed series of allegations against the right-wing party to the Presidents of the European Union Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament concerning a procession of UKIP MEPs, councillors and employees, claiming that EU funding from funds 400, 600 and others, which are designated for precise purposes, has been spent on UKIP staff, campaigning and other non-qualifying purposes.

The matter is under formal investigation under case reference OF/2016/0836/01 and the formal findings are scheduled for publication on 9 Feb 2017.

The list of those named includes ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage and the party’s new leader, Paul Nuttall, as well as a string of well- and lesser-known party personalities. The SKWAWKBOX has spoken to one of the whistleblowers – they are known to the EU entities but will not be published here – responsible for the document, who states emphatically that the amount of money involved is at least €20m. But of course, as a parent, this author considers the other allegations even more serious.

The document, which consists of 53 pages, is too long to depict here in full, but is attached as a PDF at the end of this article. However, the introductory paragraph shows how explosive the allegations will be if upheld:

For the purposes of clarity, it must be understood that, while the matter of the 450,000 euros stands as proven, the above accusations are, currently, allegations only.

But the fact that the allegations exist is of clear public interest. That they come from inside sources and have been treated by the European organisations as credible enough to merit formal investigation and report, raises serious questions that the party, if they are upheld, must be forced to answer publicly.

Given revelations yesterday and today about ex-leader Nigel Farage’s German passport application, UKIP will and should be reeling. This author is – as I’m sure many readers will be – eagerly awaiting 9 Feb 2017 and will publish the findings when they are available.

Full allegation document: ukip-eu-allegations

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