INSTITUTIONAL FRAUDSTERS FEEDING THE SYSTEM
Slim Kallas is accused of putting 'heavy pressure'
on investigators to tone down findings of abuse
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews
Maarten Engwirda, a former Dutch member of European Court of Auditors for 15 years, who retired 10 days ago, has alleged that abuse of EU funds was swept under the carpet by an auditing body that was supposed to expose wrongdoing.
"There was a practice of watering down if not completely removing criticism," he told the Dutch Volkskrant newspaper yesterday.
Slim Kallas, the European Commission's vice-president, who was responsible for anti-fraud measures from 2004 to 2010 and who is now the EU transport chief, is accused of putting "heavy pressure" on investigators to tone down findings of abuse.
Mr Kallas also clashed with the Court of Auditors over its use of strict accounting standards which meant that the EU’s annual accounts have embarrassingly never been given a clean bill of health. Mr Engwirda, 67, also described an endemic “cover-up culture” within the court and wider EU institutions that had prevented the true extent of fraud from being disclosed.
"All these abuses never came out into the open because of the Kremlin-style information we provided. But it didn't enhance our reputation one bit," he said.
The former Dutch national auditor highlighted strong pressure from France to bury a notorious fraud case involving the Fléchard dairy and abuse of EU butter export subsidies worth tens of millions in the 1990s.
"I had to threaten to resign as head of the investigation and to inform the outside world," he said.
A spokesman dismissed any suggestion that the commission would be "stupid" enough to interfere with the work of the auditors during regular "close dialogue".
"The court is very glad to have this very fruitful dialogue and this has been noted," he said. "There may well be dissenting voices, however we can only refer to the position of the court as an institution and not people who have left."
Mr Kallas’s spokesman has said that Mr Engwirda’s opinion did not accord with “the recollection of the work during that period at all.”
Marta Andreasen, a Ukip MEP and a member of the European Parliament's budgetary control committee, that she had come under "huge pressure to conceal the truth about EU expenditure" before being sacked as the commission's chief accountant for whistle-blowing in 2002.
"I witnessed the arm twisting of the Auditors each time they attempted to reveal the failures in the EU accounting and control systems. They came under huge pressure to keep the accountancy fraud hushed up," she said.
"Sadly the auditors did not support me when I stood up in defence of European taxpayers. In my opinion the court is not an independent body."
Pieter Cleppe, the Brussels spokesman of the Open Europe pressure group said: "This insider story should serve as a warning not to give in to EU demands for more money until the culture of financial irresponsibility is being dealt with more fundamentally."
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