Brussels, 03/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Following the death on 9 January of the director general of the European anti-fraud office (OLAF), Franz-Hermann Brüner, the European Commission has decided that OLAF's deputy director general, Nicholas Ilett, should act as director general until further notice. The coordinators of the EPP, S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL at the European Parliament's budgetary control committee argue that his appointment is a crime against the rights of the European Parliament and Regulation 1073/1999 on OLAF investigations. Under the EU Treaty, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament should act together to appoint the OLAF director general.
The Commission's decision is illegal and jeopardises investigations currently being carried out by OLAF, argue the following political coordinators at the EP's budgetary control committee: Ingeborg Grässle (EPP, Germany), Jens Geier (S&D, Germany), Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium) and Søren Bo Søndergaard (GUE/NGL, Denmark). The budgetary control committee will discuss the matter at its upcoming meeting. It believes that only the OLAF director general has the power to open investigations into alleged fraud and therefore anyone under investigation could take the matter up in court arguing that the appointment of Ilett as director general is not lawful. OLAF's monitoring committee and the EP's legal department share this view. (L.C./transl.fl)