Lithuanian MEP Viktoras Uspaskichas has claimed 3 million euros in side revenue, which is more than a third of additional earnings declared by all 705 members of the European Parliament.
The findings were published by Transparency International, an anti-corruption NGO. Its analysis was based on declarations of private interests on MEPs' official profiles, collected on April 24.
The side income declared by Uspaskichas was more than 13 times higher than that of France's Jerome Riviere, the second-highest earning MEP, who received over 220,000 euros from a financial services company.
Most of the side earnings of Uspaskiachas were related to Edvervita, a Lithuanian company specialising in commercial real estate rental.
Uspaskich was elected to the European Parliament on the Lithuanian Labour Party's ticket. He is a controversial politician and has previously landed in hot water over the peddling of Covid-related conspiracy theories and funding alternative media in Lithuania.
In all, MEPs declared a total of 8.7 million euros in side earnings. Lithuania’s other ten MEPs declared no side income. An MEP's monthly salary amounts to around 7,800 euros after tax.
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