EU anti-fraud chief facing allegations

Financial Times ^ | July 5 2007 17:57 | By George Parker in Brussels

[DeaconBenjamin2]

The head of Olaf, Europe’s anti-fraud watchdog, is to be hauled before the European parliament to answer allegations of conflicts of interest and irregularities in the way it operates.

Franz-Hermann Brüner will face awkward questions on why applications for the job of director of investigations were screened by a panel including a eurocrat who was herself being probed by Olaf.

Paul van Buitenen, the Dutch whistleblower turned MEP, claims an internal Olaf candidate for the job tried to halt any disciplinary follow-up against the female official, in spite of the “seriousness” of the case.

Mr van Buitenen also claims Olaf’s supposedly independent investigations are influenced by pressure from national public prosecutors and argues that Olaf should not investigate allegations of fraud committed with funds which it manages.

Mr Brüner will give evidence behind closed doors to senior members of the European parliament’s budgetary control committee on July 16.

The case will pit the German director-general against the Dutch MEP, who raised concerns about nepotism and irregularities in the European Commission that eventually brought down Jacques Santer’s administration in 1999.

[endthematrix]

European petty infighting lead the continent to World War I. After the war, the League of Nations mandates itself to prevent war. That failed with WWII and now Idealists charge that European interdependence will prevent war. Now we have the European Union and are back to petty infighting...