[Savage]

Progress Party jaunts on taxpayers Source

Former Progress Party leader Carl I. Hagen was in control of a secret travel fund used by an exclusive group of party members and their wives to travel around the world.

The Progress Party (FrP) trips include jaunts to London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Istanbul. The funding came from an account earmarked for study trips, and was financed by tax money, newspaper VG reports.

Hundreds of thousands of Norwegian crowns were transferred from party parliamentary funds to the Progress Party travel fund, but no bookkeeping exists for the purported study trips, VG wrote.

"There has been a study account, which is to be used for study activities. It still exists but will now be phased out. The money will be transferred to the parliamentary group," Hagen told VG.

The FrP refuse to say how much money in total has been transferred from the parliamentary group to the travel fund, but from just 1995-1996 NOK 254,034 (USD 41,000) was funneled into the account, which has always been controlled by Hagen.

VG cited an FrP representative who said that party members elected to parliament in 1997 asked about the money, but never learned what happened to the funds.




Hmmm...Nobodys perfect...