By Bruno Waterfield - 23rd May 2006
The EU’s anti-fraud Olaf investigator is to be given a “political steer” by MEPs, the European commission and national governments, under new proposals unveiled on Wednesday.
The European Anti-Fraud Office – known as Olaf under its French initials for office européen de lutte anti-fraude – is to come under new political scrutiny.
Olaf has often been mired in controversy after being set up in 1999 following the collapse of Jacques Santer European commission amid fraud scandals.
The anti-fraud investigator has come under fire for its priorities in investigation and failing to respect the rights of EU officials, or others, under investigation.
Commission vice-president Siim Kallas, responsible for anti-fraud, is tabling new proposals to boost Olaf’s performance and to set priorities.
Key to the Olaf revamp will be political input on general priorities from EU institutions and an “internal review adviser” to monitor procedural rights in individual cases.
Political steer
If reforms are agreed, Olaf chief Franz-Hermann Brüner will hold “regular” meetings with an existing five-strong supervisory committee and a representative from the European parliament, commission and EU presidency.
Commission officials deny the reforms will damage Olaf’s independence and point to “conflicting demands” placed on the office.
“We need a political steer but we do not want a permanent structure,” said a commission official.
“The political steer would be on priorities for investigation. There is no question of telling Olaf what to do on a particular case.”
Officials are concerned that Olaf’s independence – required to probe fraud involving EU and national officials across the institutions – may leave it “isolated”.
“There are different interests in different institutions, the idea is to bring people together and to try and work it out.”
“There are conflicting wish lists for Olaf and sometimes it has found itself isolated… It is mainly the parliament that takes an interest, we would like the council to take more of an interest.”
Olaf, some member states and commission officials would like to see a greater priority placed on coordinating the EU fight against smuggling, VAT fraud and counterfeiting.
Some commission officials are concerned at the “proportionality” of requirements on Olaf to investigate all cases – one recent case involved a sum of €44.
Others, some member states and MEPs, wish to see Olaf focus on internal fraud problems within the EU rather than eye-catching anti-piracy campaigns.
Procedural rights
Kallas will also propose the setting up of an “internal review adviser” to ensure procedural rights for those subject to Olaf investigations.
Olaf chief Brüner has been accused of misleading the EU ombudsman over an investigation into German journalist Hans-Martin Tillack.
An Olaf investigation that led to the arrest of Tillack and search and seizure by the Belgian police of his files is also currently before the European courts.
But the new “independent” scrutiny post is set to come under criticism for being an Olaf job – under Brüner.
Commission officials insist that new post must be inside Olaf if current case files are to be considered outside existing judicial appeals to the ombudsman or EU judges.
“We are creating someone who is functionally independent. He has to be located within Olaf to have access to case files,” said the official.
“It will be a senior post and he can be asked to give an opinion on procedural rights at various stages – currently if someone is unhappy they can only write to the Olaf director general.”
New rules will also see a 12-month target set for the duration of Olaf investigations, the current average is 23 months and individuals involved are to be informed at all stages.
“We are also seeking more information for whistle blowers on investigations they have triggered,” said an official.
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