On 07/03/2008, Anthony wikimail@inbox.org wrote:
Intentionally submitting a receipt to a non-profit charity which one knows is unacceptable is unethical at best.
How do you know it's unacceptable until the finance director turns it down? I don't find the idea of expensive wine and massages improbable for a high profile personality; not that I don't also admire the frugality that leaves the weary traveller paying the bill himself occasionally (just as long as it never happens to me).
However, "intentionally" and "knows" are two key parts to that sentence which have not been proven - in fact, the entire incident has merely been alleged.
I get an amusing picture of Jimmy Wales sheepishly handing in a receipt, trying to forget the *last* time he got a waggy finger for daring to claim expenses. Sorry but I'm drawing a complete blank on seeing this whole discussion as anything other than ridiculous. Unethical is where you do something *wrong*, not just something that might make some busybodies mutter a lot.