By Martin Banks - 6th April 2011
MEPs have rights like everyone else
Ingeborg Grässle
German MEP Ingeborg Grässle has come under fire for saying that the MEPs at the centre of parliament's 'cash-for-laws' scandal should not be investigated by Olaf.
The EPP member made the comments during a debate in Strasbourg on a report on the 'protection of communities' financial interests.
Olaf has launched an inquiry into claims by a British newspaper that four MEPs were prepared to accept financial payments in return for tabling amendments to draft EU laws.
Grässle, a member of the budgets committee, said an investigation should not have been launched until the MEPs' immunity from prosecution had been lifted.
She also questioned whether Olaf, the EU's anti-fraud watchdog, had the legal competence to launch such an investigation.
She said that in Germany such activity would not necessarily warrant prosecution.
Two of the four MEPs have since resigned while another, former Romanian deputy PM Adrian Severin, is coming under increasing pressure to step down as an MEP.
Grässle is also a member of the committee on budgetary control.
It was parliament's all-powerful bureau, which gave the green light to Olaf to launch a probe.
On Wednesday, Grässle defended herself and told this website that parliament "has to respect the legal procedures".
She said, "I agree, of course, that corruption has to be pursued - and also that Severin should resign - but any inquiry should be done by the national authorities, not Olaf.
"An inquiry should not have started until their immunity was lifted which, as far as I know, has not yet happened."
She also questioned the legality of denying the MEPs at the centre of the allegations access to their offices in parliament.
"I have some doubts about whether this was legally correct and wonder what a European judge would have to say about this."
She added, "What I am saying is that MEPs have rights like everyone else and we have to respect these rights and I am not sure we are doing that with these cases."
Reaction to the comments made by Grässle was swift, with one deputy branding them as "incredible".
UKIP member Marta Andreasen said, "One MEP has even gone so far as to question Olaf's power to investigate these cases and declares - incredibly - that in some countries such action would not be considered illegal and would not even be investigated."
Andreasen also highlighted the "problems" in the EU's approach to fraud, saying, "The EU tends to call 'error' what in many cases is pure fraud and corruption. Worse, the European commission has decided to move from a zero tolerance to a tolerable risk policy when dealing with fraud.
"Only two of the four whose names were revealed have resigned. Will this parliament review the legislation these four MEPs have worked on?"
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