By Martin Banks - 28th April 2009
I am determined to clear my name
Tom Wise
UK eurosceptic MEP Tom Wise has pleaded not guilty to cheating the taxpayer out of thousands of pounds in an alleged allowances scam.
Wise, aged 60 and an MEP since 2004, denied charges of false accounting and money laundering.
He appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Monday with his former researcher Lindsay Jenkins, 62.
They were released on conditional bail to reappear at the court on 8 June.
Jenkins, of Queen Club Gardens, London, also denied both charges.
Wise, a former UK Independence Party MEP who now sits as an independent for the east of England, is accused of claiming at least €40,000 in secretarial allowances in the 12 months until December 2005 under the guise of a salary for Jenkins.
Prosecutors claim that he spent the money on a car, fine wines and paid off credit card and bank debts.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between 14 December 2004 and 24 December 2005.
The defendants are accused of signing official documents claiming parliamentary money would be paid into Jenkins' account when it was allegedly controlled by Wise.
The second charge of money laundering alleges they then used the dishonestly-obtained cash for their own purposes.
The prosecution follows an investigation by the European anti-fraud Office OLAF and officers at Bedfordshire police's economic crime unit.
Wise recently told this website that he will "strenuously" fight the allegations but that he does not intend to seek re-election in June.
"I am determined to clear my name," he said at the time.
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