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MEPs can claim £120,000 a year in expenses without providing “real proof" of how the money is spent, because EU officials don't want to saddle them with an "administrative burden" which would hamper their freedom, a court heard. EU expenses chief Frank Antoine-Poirel said that only on “very limited occasions” would MEPs be asked for “real proof” of where MEPs allowances ended up. Mr Antoine-Poirel, head of the EU’s Parliamentary Assistance and Members' General Expenditure Unit, admitted he had never seen the bank accounts of long-serving Labour MEP Peter Skinner, who is accused of using his expenses to pay £10,000 to his ex-wife. Skinner, 56, is also alleged to have used some of the cash to repair the gearbox on his ex-wife Julie Skinner's Land Rover Discovery and funded hotel stays, restaurants and jewellery by claiming a maximum £480,000 for support staff over five years. One member of staff, Karen Forbes, was said to have invoiced the former MEP for the South East of England Region, for more than £122,000 in 2005, but worked at Tesco and was actually paid just £525 a month, Southwark Crown Court has heard. Mr Antoine-Poirel, a parliamentary ombudsman tasked with establishing the difference between genuine mistakes and misuse of funds, said: "It would create an administrative burden for members and the consequences on the freedom of actions for the members so we do not want to interfere with their detailed political activities.”