EU aid designated for environment 'used to buy Ferrari'

European Union aid designed to protect the environment was instead used to buy a Ferrari Testarossa, according to documents just published in Brussels.

By Justin Stares in Brussels Last Updated: 12:13AM BST 03 Apr 2009
Funds intended to boost the use of solar panels were used to buy the Italian sports car, the documents claimed.

An unnamed dentist from Consenza, in Italy, is under investigation for allegedly siphoning off cash from the EU's regional development fund, to which Britain contributes, the European commission has confirmed.

He was discovered after going on a spending spree which included the Testarossa.
"A dentist in the town of Cosenza misused EU funding that was intended for the development of solar panels," wrote Nils Lundgren, a Swedish MEP, in a parliamentary question.
"However, the project never materialised and instead the dentist bought items including a Ferrari Testarossa sports car with the money he had received from the EU," Mr Lungren wrote.
The document did not specify how the dentist got the money.
In her reply, Danuta Hübner, the EU commissioner for regional policy, said Brussels had asked Italy for the money back.
She said Italy's Guardia di Finanza, the national finance police, were examining the incident.
Mr Lundgren, who sits in the European parliament's Euro-skeptic bloc, is developing a reputation for blowing the whistle on misuse of EU funds. Earlier this year, he revealed that the EU was spending millions building swimming pools in the Caribbean.