By IRNA,
London : British MEP Giles Chichester resigned Friday as Conservative leader in the European Parliament after a scandal surrounding expenses worth more than Pnds 400,000 (Dlrs 800,000).
Chichester stepped down from his post after reports that he channeled staff allowances to a family business of which he is a paid director, but is staying on as an MEP.
His resignation follows a series of financial scandals being exposed in the UK over the past year that has led to greater scrutiny of expenses in the British parliament.
The highest profile was Works and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain who became the first casualty of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government in January, after failing to declare over Pnds 100,000 of funds received for failed campaign to become Labour deputy leader.
In a statement, Britain’s opposition Conservative Party said Chichester stepped down after chairman Caroline Spelman asked him to provide a full explanation of the arrangements put in place to fund his staff.
Tory leader David Cameron said he was “right to stand down as leader of our MEPs to prepare a full explanation” of how his office is funded. “Just as I expect our MPs to adhere to the highest standards, so must our MEPs,” he said.
His resignation came after Chichester first tried to claim that it was a “technical breach of rules” at the European parliament and had followed a misunderstanding of the financial regulations.
A secret internal audit of the British parliament revealed by The Daily Telegraph earlier this year found widespread problems with payments of staff allowances which are worth a total of Pnds 125 million every year.
The MEP is the son of famous British round-the-world yachtsman, Sir Francis Chichester, whom the family business was named after that received the illegal funding.