Did Farage help himself? A UKIPPER demands some answers!

One of our contacts has kindly sent us the following email. It was sent to UKIP's leadership, including the MEPs. We reproduce it in full as we believe it deserves to be widely circulated:

Yet Another Financial Scandal - Did Farage Help Himself?"‏

From: Richard Lloyd (loveengland1@gmail.com)

Sent: 17 February 2010 21:15:12

To: David Campbell-Bannerman (dcbdcbuk@yahoo.co.uk); Derek Clark MEP (derekroland.clark@europarl.europa.eu); Paul Nuttall (paul.nuttall@europarl.europa.eu); Nigel Farage (nigel.farage@europarl.europa.eu); Trevor Coleman (trevor.colman@europarl.europa.eu); Nikki Sinclaire (nikki.sinclaire@europarl.europa.eu); Michael Natrass (michaelhenry.nattrass@europarl.europa.eu); Marta Andreasen (marta.andreasen@europarl.europa.eu); John Agnew (johnstuart.agnew@europarl.europa.eu); John Bufton (john.bufton@europarl.europa.eu); Gerard Batten (gerard.atten@europarl.europa.eu); Geoffrey Bloom (godfrey.bloom@europarl.europa.eu); William Earl of Dartmouth (william.dartmouth@europarl.europa.eu); Lord Pearson (lordpearsonofrannoch@gmail.com)
Cc: Gawain Towler (gawain.towler@europarl.europa.eu); douglas.denny@btopenworld.com;

Whilst no one enjoys receiving bad news, sometimes it is necessary to look at things we do not like so that we can move forward.

This is such a message, below, and I sincerely trust that you will read what is written and then objectively consider what, if anything, must be done to enable Ukip to move forward, presenting an untarnished image of a Party incorruptible, and dedicated to exposing corruption where ever it hides.

I've entitled this post, "Yet Another Financial Scandal - Did Farage Help Himself?" because when all is said and done, it is only Mr Farage who can answer so many of the outstanding questions pertaining to party finances.

So to begin: In a recent round-robin email, sent earlier this month, a Richard English (presumably a member of Ukip)asked what had become of the missing funds in Nigel Farage's SE Region. He also asked whether Farage had stolen the monies but, presumably, neither Farage nor any of his close advisors have answered this question - which does nothing to dampen pervasive rumours.

In this email, I must draw your attention to further irregularities. Irregularities that have the beginnings of a major scandal, and I regret, a scandal in which Mr Farage appears to be heavily involved.

Indeed, such is my concern over these latest financial irregularities, indicative of some very shady goings on behind the scenes, that I have temporarily suspended my support for Ukip. I shall not donate funds to the party for reasons that will become obvious. Nor will I campaign in the forthcoming elections until these serious matters have been resolved in a transparent and proper manner.

I am sending this email to you, the Ukip MEPs, in the hopes that you can shed further light on some or all of these issues. Equally, I am sending it to my own list of Ukip Members, any one of whom may perhaps be able to shed further and better particulars on the matter of the disappearing funds.

To set the background to the latest revelations, and to remind readers who may have ignored the long standing allegations of impropriety:

1. over £1m of supporters' funds disappeared in the Ashford Call Centre from 2005 until its closure. 90% of monies disappeared into a black hole, encompassing 'expenses'. Repeated attempts by members of Ukip's NEC, including the much respected Dr David Abbott (who is also an eminent Christian), to have the Centre audited to discover what happened to the donations were blocked by Farage and his allies.

2. similarly, over £212k disappeared in Farage's SE Region between 2004-5 and these were described as 'other costs' (see Electoral Commission website). What were these 'other costs'? Why the failure to detail the expenditure and to disguise it instead? There were no staff employed by the Region, according to the Electoral Commission website. Again, attempts by Dr Abbott and others to carry out an audit were impeded and vetoed by Mr Farage and his nodding donkeys. I've belatedly come to see that this descriptor is all too apt for what now constitutes the NEC.

Why? Why are members who donated funds not to learn where and how their monies were spent? Why were demands for audits vetoed? Why were the books not presented in a transparent and correct manner, which would have obviated the need for any audit? What is being hidden and why? Why have these questions never been answered despite numerous demands?

How can it be right to censure the EU for its financial irregularities when the same exists in our own party? This is hypocrisy and it will not do.

Once again, following the lead of Richard English, I must ask this question in an open letter: Did you, Nigel Farage, remove any funds for your own private purposes? Did you help yourself to funds? If not, why did you turn down Dr Abbott's demands for an audit?

In the light of the persistent rumours and allegations, it is now vital to carry out audits or make available all the books, receipts, invoices, bank statements and details relevant to the expenditure of a vast amount of members' funds both at Ashford and for the SE Region.

If the above were not serious enough, I am now informed that there are grave questions over the EU monies provided to the Ind-Dem Group, of which Farage was the joint leader.

To explain: MEP's may form an of an EU recognised political group, one that comes into existence if enough MEPs from sufficient countries can form such a group. This group then receives receive vast taxpayer funded allowances from the EU Parliament. The amount was approximately, €60,000 per MEP per year. Excluding Messrs Mote and Silk, this suggests some €600,000/year for the Ind Dem group, of which Mr Farage was leader from 2004-9

One Ukip MEP who served in the last term states in writing that these funds were paid into a collective pot and Mr Farage withdrew funds as he saw fit. Is this true? If so, what we must know is:

1 What annual checks and balances were there to ensure the funds were spent correctly?

2 Were annual accounts prepared for the Ind-Dem Group? If not, why not?

3 Were records kept of the expenditure? If not, why not?

4 Did Mr Farage help himself, benefit in any way, or assist his personal interests from these funds?

5 Did Mr Farage draw cheques or otherwise, without proper oversight as to how the funds were being spent?

These are all matters of the utmost importance from a viewpoint of propriety of conduct. Let us be clear: we are discussing taxpayers' funds, ie money supplied by us.

These matters are of added importance when, as is widely commented upon elsewhere, there is an Olaf (EU anti-fraud organisation) investigation into Mr Farage and the IndDem group.

Finally, on the matter of funds, Mr Farage refused to publish his expenses as an MEP although MEPs from other parties have done so. He also failed to make available the total surplus of his genuine travel expenses to the party, which he promised to do in an interview in 1999. Clearly, he lied at the time and I can now only surmise that he did so in order to hoodwink his members.

We are discussing a substantial amount of travel expenses over 10 years. This procedure has now been banned by the EU because of the scandal that surrounded it and the blatant profiteering that occurred. Readers may recall that MEPs were provided with vast travel allowances which far exceeded the costs of their fares to Brussels. MEPs were therefore incentivised to travel via the cheapest means and pocket the difference. Did not Mr Farage promise to pay the difference to the party? Unlike Derek Clark, he has failed to maintain that promise but, instead, continues to look to us to fund the party - the Party from which he is the chief beneficiary in terms of his career, media prominence and salary. Where is his financial support for the Party to which he owes his career?

There are doubtless a few on this list who will not welcome this email. But you cannot have a prominent leader of a serious political party who is under suspicion and suspected to be fundamentally corrupt, a slave to his own personal ego and failings. Doubt this? Merely familiarise yourselves with the scandal of the selection process for the MEPs in last June's elections.

The leader of a political party, and Mr Farage is its leader in the EU, should be like Caesar's wife (as opposed to Annabelle Fuller) and above board. That is more so with Ukip because we are against corruption and set ourselves apart from the other parties by refusing to indulge in their shameful ways.

It is becoming ever more evident that Mr Farage - supported by his nodding donkeys on the NEC - cares more about 'Farage' and his poor judgement than about the membership. Witness the deal to stand the party down during the General Election if an agreement could be reached with the Conservative Party (which gives credence to claims that the party is merely an establishment steam vent). When were the members consulted? Were you?

Witness the £100k spent by Mr Farage, in his vain attempt to be elected to Bromley in 2006, where incidentally he polled merely 8%. How much of this money did he donate to the campaign?! And yet, three years later, he boasted in a conversation with Denis McShane that he had removed over £2m in expenses from the EU in his 10 years as an MEP - a conversation later leaked out in the Daily Politics Show. I expect you've heard the story.

So I must ask, why should ordinary members and pensioners continue to stump up for funds and wear their shoe leather campaigning for a party that is seemingly made in the image of one man?

Of course, some members will wish to pretend that these issues will go away and will prefer to ignore them because they are uncomfortable. To these people I say, the ostrich syndrome is neither practical nor helpful to this or any other party.

We have to face facts. We have lost more than half our membership since 2004. We have lost our best members. We have lost our most skilled, decent and presentable candidates. Why? The common denominator in most cases is undoubtedly, Mr Farage. A man who has turned out to be a dreadful leader of men.

So long as Mr Farage remains an official of the party or an MEP, the party will never progress to its rightful place. It will remain pockmarked with clones, yes men, little people of limited intellectual stature and capability. I have heard them collectively referred to as 'Faragistas'

If, on the other hand, Mr Farage is to prove so many members and ex members wrong, will he will agree, finally, to an audit of each of the three areas above, or make available the books, invoices and application of expenses to an independent body.

Finally, I cannot help observing with sadness that we have a new Chief Executive Officer of the party who is, I understand, the 'partner' of the Eastern Region's Regional Organiser, Peter Reeve. Exactly what are her qualifications, given - as I understand it - that her experience amounts to working in a pub and supermarket? Nothing wrong with that of course, but it hardly equips someone to be the CEO of a national political party! Is this yet another job for the 'in people'? And after all is said, putting such an unqualified light weight into such an important position would enable Mr Farage to run things behind the scenes? Would it not?

Again this is an issue that Mr Farage must explain to all of us. Yet by his constant obscuration on all such questions, especially those pertaining to financial impropriety he allows the issues at hand to fester. A position that has pushed too many people out of the Party already.

No doubt I will now be accused of being disloyal, of rocking the boat in the lead up to a major election and making wild allegations. To anybody tempted to respond in this way let me say that I would dearly love to have my deep concerns over Mr Farage's financial affairs laid to rest, but the only way that this can be done is for Mr Farage to answer, at long last,all the questions I have referred to above. Well either that, or his removal from any 'office pertaining to Ukip. Only then will many ex members at last feel able to return to the fold.

I shall doubtless receive a large response rate to this email. And I will welcome it and forward to this list any emails of interest, while strictly retaining the identities of the senders, unless they specifically request otherwise.

Regards

Richard

End of email.

Farage will not respond. How can he? To give honest answers to honest questions is something that he cannot and will not do.