EU anti-fraud unit criticised by watchdog
The EU’s anti-fraud body OLAF, has been sharply criticised by the chairman of its own supervisory committee.
During a hearing in the House of Lords in the UK on 19 May, the Chairman of the supervisory body, Raymond Edward Kendall, said that OLAF had been given "enormous powers with no legal supervision".
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Furthermore, Mr Kendall believes that "structural problems" are at the heart of some of the problems surrounding OLAF and even questioned whether the current Director-General is the right person to lead the anti-fraud body, according to a transcript of the hearing.
Code of good practice
Mr Kendall, a former Interpol Secretary General said that the supervisory committee had repeatedly called for OLAF to draw up a 'Code of Good Practice' to correct institutional failings.
OLAF says it already has such a code in the form of the 'OLAF manual' dating from January 2001 and updated in August last year.
In a letter to the House of Lords, the Director-General under attack - Franz-Hermann Brüner - mounted a detailed defence, emphasising that "the creation and improvement" of procedures to guarantee that individuals’ rights are protected have been his priority since taking office.
Different standards
According to Mr Kendall, the five-person supervisory committee regularly receives letters of complaint from people who feel that their rights have not been respected.
"All of these complaints without exception concern procedure", he told the EUobserver.
One such case is that of the German journalist, Hans-Martin Tillack who had his home and office searched by Belgian police.
Mr Kendall cited this case during the House of the Lords hearing saying that the case was passed to the Belgian and the German judicial authorities "purely on the basis of hearsay evidence".
"What is acceptable in one country, is not acceptable in another", he told the EUobserver, "under English law, if you did not witness something yourself, that is what we call hearsay".
OLAF whose dossier on Mr Tillack sparked the Belgian investigation says they had to pass on the case to the judicial authorities because they have no authority to interview persons outside the EU-institutions.
OLAF had been investigating the Journalist over suspicions of bribing EU officials.
"I don't think you can use a procedure like that just to interview a person", said Mr Kendall.