British ex-MEP jailed over expenses fraud

London (AFP) – A former member of the European Parliament (MEP) was on Friday jailed for four years in Britain for falsely claiming more than £100,000 ($146,000, 128,000 euros) in expenses. 

Peter Skinner, a British MEP for the Labour party between 1994 and 2014, was convicted of fraud, false accounting and making a false instrument.

He falsely claimed EU funds that should have gone towards paying for staff, using some of it to help pay maintenance to his ex-wife and to fund a honeymoon with his second wife.

Prosecutor Jonathan Davies said the total lost to the European Parliament was £132,434.02, and the judge agreed that it was “in excess of £100,000”.

Sentencing Skinner at Southwark Crown Court in London, Judge Maura McGowan told him: “You were trusted by the public and you have abused that trust.”