David Cameron yesterday expelled the Conservative party's former chief whip in the European parliament after the Strasbourg authorities ruled that he had breached its rules and demanded that he pay back just over £500,000.
Den Dover, who resigned as chief whip in June over claims that he had siphoned off £758,000 of public money to family members through a company providing secretarial services over nine years, will face a fraud investigation by the EU's anti-fraud body, Olaf. This has the power to ask police in Britain to carry out searches.
Cameron moved against Dover, a Conservative MEP for north-west England, yesterday afternoon minutes after being informed that Harald Romer, the general secretary of the European parliament, had written to the MEP to tell him that he had made mistakes.
Romer said that Dover had made two mistakes:
There was a conflict of interest, referring to Dover's decision to make payments to family members.
There was unaccounted expenditure involving just over £500,000. Dover has agreed to pay this money back in full to the European parliament.
The parliamentary authorities launched an investigation after the Sunday Times reported in March that Dover had paid £8,143 a month in 2002 to MP Holdings Ltd.
His wife, Kathleen, and daughter Amanda were appointed directors of the company in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
Dover said he employed his wife to manage all his secretarial services. His daughter was also employed as a part-time assistant.
Cameron acted yesterday after Caroline Spelman, the Conservative chair, who is herself facing an inquiry into her parliamentary expenses, informed the Tory leader about the letter from the Strasbourg authorities.
The party leadership had been aware of the letter, which was sent to Dover last week, for a few days. Spelman pressed Dover to let her see the letter.
Cameron spoke to Philip Bushill-Matthews, the Tory leader in Strasbourg, to demand that the whip be withdrawn from Dover.
Cameron then took action to expel Dover from the party - a decision Dover can appeal against - and to remove his name from the list of Conservative candidates for the European parliamentary elections next June.
Tory sources said that the leadership was not acting swiftly simply because there were large sums involved.
"There is an important principle here," one source said. "David Cameron has said consistently that he wants total transparency. He will not tolerate this sort of behaviour."
Bushill-Matthews said last night: "Earlier this year, allegations were made regarding the improper use of Mr Dover's parliamentary expenses.
"The European parliamentary authorities launched a very thorough investigation, which has now come to an end. Today, Mr Dover shared with us the outcome of this investigation. From this, we learned he is required to repay the parliament a significant six-figure sum.
"On the basis of this information, and after consulting David Cameron, I have instructed the MEPs' chief whip to withdraw the whip from Mr Dover with immediate effect. This, in turn, means he will not be a Conservative candidate at the European parliament elections in 2009."
The expulsion of Dover is the most serious action against a Conservative MEP after questions were raised about their expenses in the past year.
Giles Chichester stood down as the Conservative leader in Strasbourg in June after it was disclosed that he had transferred funds over 12 years from his MEP's allowance to a company of which he was director.
Chichester confessed to a "whoops-a-daisy" moment because he had failed to understand the rules governing the £160,000 a year MEPs can draw on for running their offices.
Accounts showed that since 1996 the firm of which Chichester is a director had received £445,000 "in connection with secretarial and assistant services for the European parliament, constituency and committee work".