Members of the European Parliament rejected moves yesterday to clean up scandal-ridden arrangements for their travel allowances and expenses. Their decision prompted anger and disbelief from British MEPs, who voted for proposed reforms.More hijinks by following the link. I especially liked the way a MEP can fund his pension from the paperclip money.
In a series of votes carried by a margin of six to four at a full session of the parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs resisted proposals for audits of their accounts and turned down calls to impose sanctions on those found to have defrauded the taxpayer.
The votes "gave an all-clear to embezzlement", said Chris Davies MEP, the leader of the British Liberal Democrats in the parliament.
Of course, there's a reason for the rapacity in the multilateral bureaucracies as explained by Peter Dennis in The U.N., Preying on the Weak:
Anyone who was shocked by the most recent revelations of sexual misconduct by United Nations staff has never set foot in a U.N.-sponsored refugee camp. Sex crimes are only one especially disturbing symptom of a culture of abuse that exists in the United Nations precisely because the United Nations and its staff lack accountability.When's the last time you saw one of the kleptocrats doing the perp walk?
This lack of accountability is the central blemish on today's United Nations, and it lies behind most of the recent headlines. Whether taking advantage of a malnourished refugee or of a lucrative oil-for-food contract, the temptation is there, the act is easy and the risk of punishment is nil.
