Tattletale

last updated 8 January 2015

Brussels

Members of the European Parliament have been faking attendance at legislative sessions so they can claim the $320 per diem bonus, a senior member said this week. Hans-Peter Martin of Austria said at least 200 of his colleagues signed attendance sheets for sessions they had skipped. “There are countless MEPs who go to Strasbourg and Brussels simply to pick up the 262 euros,” Martin said. “They have told me so themselves.” Martin, who was an investigative reporter before he turned to politics, said he had kept track of attendance fraud since 2001 and would open his records to investigators.