International

A former Romanian MEP has been accused by anti-corruption prosecutors of fiddling his expenses to the tune of €50,000.

Prosecutors charged Luhan Petru with allegedly using fake receipts to claim European Parliament funds, said a press release by Romania's National Anti-Corruption Directorate.

The statement said that between March 17, 2010, and March 6 2012, Luhan — a former member of ex-Romanian President Traian Basescu’s Democrat-Liberal Party — submitted 37 fake receipts to obtain reimbursement of travel expenses.

Luhan is believed to have exaggerated the costs of plane tickets and submitted fuel receipts when in reality he travelled from Brussels to Strasbourg by plane, prosecutors said.

The case was sent to a Bucharest court.

Last year, a European Parliament committee called for more transparency over a €4,416-a-month lump sum given to MEPs with no questions asked over how they spend it.

In September, the European Union’s top court ruled that MEPs do not have to reveal what they spend their general expenditure allowance on, in what critics described as a blow to transparency.