Tom Wise
Encyclopedia
Tom Wise (born 13 May 1948, in Bournemouth
) was an Independent
Member of the European Parliament
(MEP) for the East of England
. A former police officer
, he was elected in 2004 as a member of the United Kingdom Independence Party
but later had the whip
withdrawn when allegations of misuse of parliamentary expenses surfaced in The Sunday Telegraph. Following an inquiry carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office, Wise was formally charged with false accounting and money laundering
by Bedfordshire Police
. After initially pleading not guilty, he admitted the charges and was sentenced in November 2009 at Southwark
Crown Court
to a two-year term of imprisonment. He is thought to be the first MEP to be jailed for expenses fraud. Sentencing him, the judge said that Wise had engaged in "deliberate and blatant dishonesty" and had set about to defraud the European Parliament almost as soon as he was elected.
on 13 May 1948, Wise attended Bournemouth School
between 1959 and 1965, before completing a Diploma in Public Speaking in 1967. He served with Dorset Police
before embarking on a career in the food distribution
and processing
industry. He became the UK Managing Director of a German herbs and spices company. From 1981 to 1989 he was a member of the Liberal Party
.
(UKIP) in 1997. He served as office manager to Jeffrey Titford
MEP, during this period he worked on the rules governing MEPs' expenses and gained an expertise in the system which he would later use to his advantage. He was the fourth-placed candidate on UKIP's candidate list in for the European Parliament elections in 1999, and also stood as the party's candidate in the 1997
, 2001
and 2005
general elections for the South West Bedfordshire constituency. In the 2005 general election, he came fourth with 4.2% of the votes cast.
He was elected as an MEP for UKIP in the 2004 European elections. He was UKIP's official spokesman on the Culture, Youth, Media and Sport Committee
until his suspension by the party in February 2007. In his first speech to the Committee on 4 October 2004, Wise criticised the proposed budget and drew allusions with Nazi
Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
. In his maiden speech
to the Parliament on 16 December 2004, Wise blamed the European Union for creating unacceptable conditions for the transit of animals around Europe. Wise also spoke out against the Proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
within UKIP's Independence/Democracy parliamentary grouping pending the outcome of the fraud inquiry.
During his time as an MEP, Wise disputed the genuine nature
of the September 11th attacks. and labelled Russia
-based businessman Alisher Usmanov
a "gangster
and racketeer"
Following the decision to press criminal charges against him, Wise decided not to contest the 2009 European Parliament elections
. He has however said that he wants to stand as an MP in the 2010 General Election.
, Daniel Foggo, published an article accusing Wise of claiming £36,000 a year from the European Parliament
in the name of his researcher, Lindsay Jenkins, while only passing on about a sixth of that amount to her. According to now-repealed Rules governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament, MEPs could claim up to £125,000 per year for assistants' wages, but this money must be paid either directly to the employees or to a third-party agent. The rules did not allow the funds to pass directly through the hands of MEPs themselves.
Foggo later reported that Wise had supplied the European Parliament's Payments Office with a "contract" including her name and details, which stipulated that the £36,000 allowance should be paid into an account named "Stags". This account, held with the Co-operative Bank
, was in fact Wise's own business account and its full name was "T Wise trading as Stags". The actual agreement between Wise and Jenkins stated that she would receive monthly "retainer" payments of £500 for advice and statistical research, with any extra work to be paid on top. Bank documents obtained by Foggo showed that between November 2004 and October 2005, Wise had paid £39,100 to this account, out of which Jenkins received £13,555. These funds were the only monies coming into the account. In another breach of the payment regulations, some of the £13,555 paid to Jenkins represented work done on behalf of other UKIP members, including party leader Nigel Farage
who had agreed to fund the publication of a eurosceptic
pamphlet
by Jenkins. A further £19,000 was transferred from the account, some of which to pay off credit cards.
On 29 October, Wise admitted to breaching the rules and, to head off a scandal, agreed to repay £25,230. An internal UKIP inquiry was launched after the Parliament became aware of the affair, but no action was taken and the results of the investigation were kept secret. As Daniel Foggo later reported, UKIP's former leader, Roger Knapman
, halted the inquiry after it uncovered serious wrongdoing, believing that the European Parliament would clear Wise. Farage told reporter Daniel Foggo that Wise "had had committed a simple, silly error by making himself a "paying agent" for his own staff."
, the European Anti-Fraud Office. A UKIP meeting was convened in Brussels
on 28 February 2007 at which Wise formally admitted to having spent £6,500 from the allowance on a dark green Peugeot 406
which he still drove, but refused to disclose how he had spent a further £13,000 of the funds. After a heated discussion, a decision was taken to remove the whip
; both Knapman and fellow MEP Mike Nattrass
challenged the decision and threatened to reconsider their futures in the party. Farage emphasised that, if cleared by the OLAF investigation, Wise would be welcomed back into the party, adding that he thought "there is a great deal of public sympathy for us." Wise was however suspended and not expelled from the party.
Following his suspension, Wise spent a further £8,000 of the allowance in legal fees in contemplation of a libel case against Greg Lance-Watkins who had published claims on the Internet relating to Wise's activities. No action was ultimately brought against Lance-Watkins.
published details of a sting
involving Tom Wise. A female reporter posing as a work experience
student
recorded Wise brazenly admitting in a Belgian bar that he had little idea of what his job as a Member of the European Parliament entailed, adding "I don't know what an MEP's job is. No one's ever given me a job description. I've no idea what an MEP should or shouldn't do. So you make it up as you go along." He boasted of fiddling the Parliament's expenses system, stating "Yes, I am milking the system [...] I have a simple philosophy. You and your parents are paying for me. Sorry, tough!" The newspaper used its leading article to call for a change in the rules governing MEPs' expenses following the exposé.
's Economic Crime Unit on suspicion of making a false instrument
, obtaining money by deception by transfer
and converting criminal property
. He was bail
ed until 29 October. Bedfordshire Police made the arrest after having been contacted by OLAF.
On 20 April 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service
advised Bedfordshire Police to charge both Wise and Jenkins with one count each of false accounting contrary to the Theft Act 1968
and one count each of money laundering contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
. Both were scheduled to appear before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court
on in April 2009 to face the charges. Wise indicated that he was innocent and would fight the charges which carry a maximum 14-year jail term. He is thought to be the first MEP to face criminal charges over the misuse of parliamentary funds, and the second former UKIP MEP after Ashley Mote
to have faced criminal charges during a parliamentary session.
. Jenkins also denied the charges. District Judge Daphne Wickham released both on conditional bail until 8 June. The case was transferred to Southwark Crown Court and charges specified: that Wise and Jenkins "falsified a document, namely a contract for provision of services, an application for secretarial assistance allowance and invoices". Also, that they used funds "received from the European Parliament intended for use as payments for secretarial services."
The three-week trial began on 2 November 2009. Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC
heard the prosecution argue that Wise channelled parliamentary funds into an account he secretly controlled so that he could pay credit card debt
s and buy fine wines. He made separate payments of £2,228 and £1,260 to wine importers, and maintained the deception by asking Jenkins to sign blank documents which he completed later. But for his exposure, Wise would, according to prosecutors, have claimed up to £180,000.
On the third day of the trial, just before Nigel Farage was due to give evidence against him, Wise began several hours of negotiations with his legal team after which he changed his plea to guilty and said he was entirely to blame for the fraud. This resulted in Jenkins being acquitted. He was sentenced on 10 November 2009 to two years imprisonment, the sentence having been reduced by one year on account of his guilty plea. In sentencing him, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin declared that:
The judge added that, in addition to jail, Wise would also have to pay £30,000 towards the prosecution's costs.
near Leighton Buzzard
in Bedfordshire
. He has two grown-up children.
Wise has a developed interest in wines, having followed courses arranged by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust
and has reached "the level just below Master of Wine
". He has spoken of having a wine cellar
containing 1,000 bottles of wine.
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
) was an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
(MEP) for the East of England
East of England (European Parliament constituency)
East of England is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 7 MEPs using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
. A former police officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
, he was elected in 2004 as a member of the United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
but later had the whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
withdrawn when allegations of misuse of parliamentary expenses surfaced in The Sunday Telegraph. Following an inquiry carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office, Wise was formally charged with false accounting and money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
by Bedfordshire Police
Bedfordshire Police
Bedfordshire Police, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in England, which includes the unitary authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton. Its headquarters are in Kempston. The county had an estimated population of 602,500 in...
. After initially pleading not guilty, he admitted the charges and was sentenced in November 2009 at Southwark
Southwark
Southwark is a district of south London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Southwark. Situated east of Charing Cross, it forms one of the oldest parts of London and fronts the River Thames to the north...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
to a two-year term of imprisonment. He is thought to be the first MEP to be jailed for expenses fraud. Sentencing him, the judge said that Wise had engaged in "deliberate and blatant dishonesty" and had set about to defraud the European Parliament almost as soon as he was elected.
Early career
Born in BournemouthBournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
on 13 May 1948, Wise attended Bournemouth School
Bournemouth School
Bournemouth School , is a boys' grammar school and sixth-form college occupying a site in Charminster, Bournemouth, Dorset, England and teaching children from years 7 to 13...
between 1959 and 1965, before completing a Diploma in Public Speaking in 1967. He served with Dorset Police
Dorset Police
Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the English county of Dorset in the south-west of England.-History:Dorset County Constabulary was formed in 1855. On 1 October 1967 it merged with Bournemouth Borough Police to form Dorset and Bournemouth Constabulary...
before embarking on a career in the food distribution
Food distribution
Food distribution, a method of distributing or transporting food or drink from one place to another, is a very important factor in public nutrition. Where it breaks down, famine, malnutrition or illness can occur...
and processing
Food processing
Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry...
industry. He became the UK Managing Director of a German herbs and spices company. From 1981 to 1989 he was a member of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
.
UKIP
Wise joined the United Kingdom Independence PartyUnited Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
(UKIP) in 1997. He served as office manager to Jeffrey Titford
Jeffrey Titford
Jeffrey William Titford is a British politician who served as leader of the UK Independence Party from 2000 until 2002. He served again as interim leader in September to November 2010 following the resignation of Lord Pearson of Rannoch...
MEP, during this period he worked on the rules governing MEPs' expenses and gained an expertise in the system which he would later use to his advantage. He was the fourth-placed candidate on UKIP's candidate list in for the European Parliament elections in 1999, and also stood as the party's candidate in the 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, 2001
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
and 2005
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....
general elections for the South West Bedfordshire constituency. In the 2005 general election, he came fourth with 4.2% of the votes cast.
He was elected as an MEP for UKIP in the 2004 European elections. He was UKIP's official spokesman on the Culture, Youth, Media and Sport Committee
Committee on Culture and Education
The Committee on Culture and Education is a committee of the European Parliament.- Responsibilities of the Committee :This committee has focused on the well-being of all members of the human race and the increased opportunities for education in all countries of the European Union...
until his suspension by the party in February 2007. In his first speech to the Committee on 4 October 2004, Wise criticised the proposed budget and drew allusions with Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
Propaganda Minister
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...
Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
. In his maiden speech
Maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country...
to the Parliament on 16 December 2004, Wise blamed the European Union for creating unacceptable conditions for the transit of animals around Europe. Wise also spoke out against the Proposed directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions
Independent
After losing the party whip in March 2007, Wise continued to sit with UKIP as an IndependentIndependent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
within UKIP's Independence/Democracy parliamentary grouping pending the outcome of the fraud inquiry.
During his time as an MEP, Wise disputed the genuine nature
9/11 conspiracy theories
9/11 conspiracy theories are theories that disagree with the widely accepted account that the September 11 attacks were perpetrated solely by al-Qaeda. These theories arose because of what proponents of the conspiracy theories believe to be inconsistencies in the official conclusions or some...
of the September 11th attacks. and labelled Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
-based businessman Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Usmanov
Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov is an Uzbek-born Russian businessman.According to the 2011 edition of Forbes magazine, the oligarch is one of Russia's richest men, with a fortune estimated at US$17.7 billion, and the world's 35th richest person.Usmanov is married and is a graduate of Moscow State...
a "gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
and racketeer"
Following the decision to press criminal charges against him, Wise decided not to contest the 2009 European Parliament elections
European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)
The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...
. He has however said that he wants to stand as an MP in the 2010 General Election.
Exposure
On 23 October 2005, a reporter for the Sunday TelegraphSunday Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961. It is the sister paper of The Daily Telegraph, but is run separately with a different editorial staff, although there is some cross-usage of stories...
, Daniel Foggo, published an article accusing Wise of claiming £36,000 a year from the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
in the name of his researcher, Lindsay Jenkins, while only passing on about a sixth of that amount to her. According to now-repealed Rules governing the payment of expenses and allowances to Members of the European Parliament, MEPs could claim up to £125,000 per year for assistants' wages, but this money must be paid either directly to the employees or to a third-party agent. The rules did not allow the funds to pass directly through the hands of MEPs themselves.
Foggo later reported that Wise had supplied the European Parliament's Payments Office with a "contract" including her name and details, which stipulated that the £36,000 allowance should be paid into an account named "Stags". This account, held with the Co-operative Bank
Co-operative Bank
The Co-operative Bank plc is a commercial bank in the United Kingdom and Guernsey, with its headquarters in Manchester.The bank markets itself as an ethical bank, and refuses to invest in companies involved in the arms trade, global climate change, genetic engineering, animal testing and use of...
, was in fact Wise's own business account and its full name was "T Wise trading as Stags". The actual agreement between Wise and Jenkins stated that she would receive monthly "retainer" payments of £500 for advice and statistical research, with any extra work to be paid on top. Bank documents obtained by Foggo showed that between November 2004 and October 2005, Wise had paid £39,100 to this account, out of which Jenkins received £13,555. These funds were the only monies coming into the account. In another breach of the payment regulations, some of the £13,555 paid to Jenkins represented work done on behalf of other UKIP members, including party leader Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....
who had agreed to fund the publication of a eurosceptic
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
by Jenkins. A further £19,000 was transferred from the account, some of which to pay off credit cards.
On 29 October, Wise admitted to breaching the rules and, to head off a scandal, agreed to repay £25,230. An internal UKIP inquiry was launched after the Parliament became aware of the affair, but no action was taken and the results of the investigation were kept secret. As Daniel Foggo later reported, UKIP's former leader, Roger Knapman
Roger Knapman
Roger Maurice Knapman is a British politician and the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party ....
, halted the inquiry after it uncovered serious wrongdoing, believing that the European Parliament would clear Wise. Farage told reporter Daniel Foggo that Wise "had had committed a simple, silly error by making himself a "paying agent" for his own staff."
Suspension from UKIP
On 23 February 2007, party sources at UKIP discovered that the European Parliament had passed the affair to OLAFOLAF
The European Anti-fraud Office is charged by the European Union with protecting the financial interests of the European Union: Its tasks are to fight fraud affecting the EU budget, as well as corruption and any other irregular activity, including misconduct, within the European Institutions, in an...
, the European Anti-Fraud Office. A UKIP meeting was convened in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
on 28 February 2007 at which Wise formally admitted to having spent £6,500 from the allowance on a dark green Peugeot 406
Peugeot 406
The Peugeot 406 was a large family car made by the French automaker Peugeot from 1995 to 2004. Available in saloon, estate and coupé bodystyles with a choice of petrol or turbodiesel engines, the 406 replaced the Peugeot 405 in Peugeot's lineup, and was itself replaced by the Peugeot 407...
which he still drove, but refused to disclose how he had spent a further £13,000 of the funds. After a heated discussion, a decision was taken to remove the whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
; both Knapman and fellow MEP Mike Nattrass
Mike Nattrass
Mike Nattrass is an English politician and Member of the European Parliament, representing the West Midlands constituency for the UK Independence Party , elected for the first time in June 2004 and re-elected in June 2009....
challenged the decision and threatened to reconsider their futures in the party. Farage emphasised that, if cleared by the OLAF investigation, Wise would be welcomed back into the party, adding that he thought "there is a great deal of public sympathy for us." Wise was however suspended and not expelled from the party.
Following his suspension, Wise spent a further £8,000 of the allowance in legal fees in contemplation of a libel case against Greg Lance-Watkins who had published claims on the Internet relating to Wise's activities. No action was ultimately brought against Lance-Watkins.
News of the World sting
In May 2008, the News of the WorldNews of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...
published details of a sting
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
involving Tom Wise. A female reporter posing as a work experience
Work experience
Work experience is the experience that a person has been working, or worked in a specific field or occupation.- Volunteer work and internships :...
student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
recorded Wise brazenly admitting in a Belgian bar that he had little idea of what his job as a Member of the European Parliament entailed, adding "I don't know what an MEP's job is. No one's ever given me a job description. I've no idea what an MEP should or shouldn't do. So you make it up as you go along." He boasted of fiddling the Parliament's expenses system, stating "Yes, I am milking the system [...] I have a simple philosophy. You and your parents are paying for me. Sorry, tough!" The newspaper used its leading article to call for a change in the rules governing MEPs' expenses following the exposé.
Arrest and charges
On 20 June 2008, Wise was arrested by Bedfordshire PoliceBedfordshire Police
Bedfordshire Police, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire in England, which includes the unitary authorities of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton. Its headquarters are in Kempston. The county had an estimated population of 602,500 in...
's Economic Crime Unit on suspicion of making a false instrument
False document
A false document is a literary technique employed to create verisimilitude in a work of fiction. By inventing and inserting documents that appear to be factual, an author tries to create a sense of authenticity beyond the normal and expected suspension of disbelief for a work of art...
, obtaining money by deception by transfer
Deception offences
Deception was a legal term of art used in the definition of statutory offences in England and Wales and Northern Ireland. It is a legal term of art in the Republic of Ireland....
and converting criminal property
Criminal conversion
Criminal conversion is the crime of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's property. It differs from theft in that it does not include the element of intending to deprive the owner of the possession of that property. As such, it is a lesser included offense of the crime of theft...
. He was bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
ed until 29 October. Bedfordshire Police made the arrest after having been contacted by OLAF.
On 20 April 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service
Crown Prosecution Service
The Crown Prosecution Service, or CPS, is a non-ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in England and Wales. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office in Scotland, and the...
advised Bedfordshire Police to charge both Wise and Jenkins with one count each of false accounting contrary to the Theft Act 1968
Theft Act 1968
The Theft Act 1968 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of offences against property in England and Wales.On 15 January 2007 the Fraud Act 2006 came into force, redefining most of the offences of deception.-History:...
and one count each of money laundering contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which provides for the confiscation or civil recovery of the proceeds from crime and contains the principal money laundering legislation in the UK.-Background:...
. Both were scheduled to appear before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court
City of Westminster Magistrates' Court
The City of Westminster Magistrates' Court was a magistrates' court located at 70 Horseferry Road, in the City of Westminster, London. It was originally called Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, after Horseferry Road where it was sited,. However, it was renamed in July 2006 following the closure...
on in April 2009 to face the charges. Wise indicated that he was innocent and would fight the charges which carry a maximum 14-year jail term. He is thought to be the first MEP to face criminal charges over the misuse of parliamentary funds, and the second former UKIP MEP after Ashley Mote
Ashley Mote
Ashley Mote was a non-inscrit Member of the European Parliament for South East England. An outspoken critic of fraud in the European Institutions, he himself was convicted of benefit fraud in 2007 for which he served a nine-month prison sentence and was described by the trial judge as "a truly...
to have faced criminal charges during a parliamentary session.
Trial and conviction
Wise appeared in court on 27 April 2009 and spoke only to confirm his name and plead not guiltyPlea
In legal terms, a plea is simply an answer to a claim made by someone in a civil or criminal case under common law using the adversary system. Colloquially, a plea has come to mean the assertion by a criminal defendant at arraignment, or otherwise in response to a criminal charge, whether that...
. Jenkins also denied the charges. District Judge Daphne Wickham released both on conditional bail until 8 June. The case was transferred to Southwark Crown Court and charges specified: that Wise and Jenkins "falsified a document, namely a contract for provision of services, an application for secretarial assistance allowance and invoices". Also, that they used funds "received from the European Parliament intended for use as payments for secretarial services."
The three-week trial began on 2 November 2009. Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC
Queen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
heard the prosecution argue that Wise channelled parliamentary funds into an account he secretly controlled so that he could pay credit card debt
Credit card debt
Credit card debt is an example of unsecured consumer debt, accessed through credit cards.Debt results when a client of a credit card company purchases an item or service through the card system...
s and buy fine wines. He made separate payments of £2,228 and £1,260 to wine importers, and maintained the deception by asking Jenkins to sign blank documents which he completed later. But for his exposure, Wise would, according to prosecutors, have claimed up to £180,000.
On the third day of the trial, just before Nigel Farage was due to give evidence against him, Wise began several hours of negotiations with his legal team after which he changed his plea to guilty and said he was entirely to blame for the fraud. This resulted in Jenkins being acquitted. He was sentenced on 10 November 2009 to two years imprisonment, the sentence having been reduced by one year on account of his guilty plea. In sentencing him, Judge Geoffrey Rivlin declared that:
The judge added that, in addition to jail, Wise would also have to pay £30,000 towards the prosecution's costs.
Personal life
Wise is married to Janet and, until his imprisonment, lived in LinsladeLinslade
Linslade is an English town, located on the Bedfordshire side of the Bedfordshire-Buckinghamshire border . It abuts onto the town of Leighton Buzzard with which it forms the civil parish of Leighton-Linslade. Linslade was transferred from Buckinghamshire in 1965, and was previously a separate...
near Leighton Buzzard
Leighton Buzzard
-Lower schools:*Beaudesert Lower School - Apennine Way*Clipstone Brook Lower School - Brooklands Drive*Greenleas Lower School - Derwent Road*Dovery Down Lower School - Heath Road*Heathwood Lower School - Heath Road*Leedon Lower School - Highfield Road...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. He has two grown-up children.
Wise has a developed interest in wines, having followed courses arranged by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust
Wine & Spirit Education Trust
The Wine & Spirit Education Trust, often referred to as WSET, is a British organisation which arranges courses and exams in the field of wine and spirits. WSET was founded in 1969, is headquartered in London and is generally regarded as the world's leading provider of wine education. The courses...
and has reached "the level just below Master of Wine
Master of Wine
Master of Wine is a qualification issued by The Institute of Masters of Wine in the United Kingdom...
". He has spoken of having a wine cellar
Wine cellar
A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not...
containing 1,000 bottles of wine.