Europees Bureau voor Fraudebestrijding onder vuur (en) - Hoofdinhoud
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU's anti-fraud office's failure to follow correct procedure for nominating its new chief could nullify its current investigations, risking million of euros in EU funds, MEPs have warned.
The situation has arisen following the death last month of Franz-Hermann Bruener, the head of the office (known as Olaf), set up 11 years ago to keep an eye on how EU money is being spent.
To keep the investigative body from remaining headless, Mr Bruener's deputy, Nicholas Ilett, was appointed to take over until a permanent replacement could be found.
But the interim solution has caused an inter-institutional ruckus: The parliament's legal service says the temporary Ilet appointment goes against procedural rules, which, they note, require the assent of both MEPs and member states.
"This person has to be appointed inter-institutionally because he has to be independent," German centre-right MEP Ingeborg Graessle i told this website. "He opens the investigation, he closes it, he gives information to the member states."
According to the German deputy, this means that all of the anti-fraud work that Olaf does from the moment of Mr Ilett's appointment until a permanent replacement is found may be challenged before the European Court of Justice on the basis of this legal technicality.
Suggesting the court has a "rather formulaic approach" to such cases, Ms Graessle said: "I do not want to put in danger the fight against fraud" and outlined a scenario in which an investigation into a mafia organisation is declared void because of the legal liability.
The cases Olaf looks into run from money for fraudulent projects, to embezzlement, to bribe-paying and murky tendering processes. Over 3,000 cases have been opened since 1999. In Olaf's latest report, for the year 2008, some €783 million was considered affected by financial irregularities.
So far, however, the parliament's calls have fallen on deaf ears. The European Commission's own legal service suggests the EU executive is well within its rights to make the temporary appointment.
Speaking before the budgetary control committee last week, the commissioner in charge of the issue, Algirdas Semeta i, said: "It is very important that the business continuity principle prevails in this situation. Otherwise it would jeopardise the investigations that are ongoing."
The parliament, for its part, is now considering its next steps. Last week it sent a letter to the commission acknowledging the appointment of Mr Ilett. A commission spokesperson said that as far as the commission is concerned this means the issue is "settled." However, Ms Graessle, who says she has the full support of the committee behind her, says the legal question has still not been answered.
Meanwhile, finding a new person for the job could drag on for some time. Officials note that it took one and half years to re-appoint Mr Bruener for a second term in office.
One of the problems was a requirement that the candidates have at least 15 years experience. Well into the process, when the short-list had been drawn up, it was realised that one of potential nominees for the post fell short with just 14 years and 8 months of experience, throwing the process into disarray.