Brussels, 30/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) considers that it should have the power to carry out investigations at the premises of the European Parliament, in order to gather evidence in the affair involving MEPs who are alleged to have accepted bribes in exchange for making amendments to legislative proposals (EUROPE 10346). For the time being, the EP's legal staff consider that OLAF cannot carry out investigations in the offices of the EP because this would involve a criminal and non-administrative affair. The Greens do not share this opinion.
Following the revelations in The Sunday Times on 20 March regarding three MEPs (Ernst Strasser, Zoran Thaler and Adrian Severin), who are alleged to have agreed to making certain amendments to legislative drafts in exchange for money, OLAF has swiftly begun an investigation. On Tuesday 22 March OLAF investigators attempted to gather evidence from the offices of the MEPs implicated in this investigation at the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels. European Parliament (EP) authorities refused to give access to these offices and claimed these would be secured by European Parliament security personnel. On 24 March, the EP president, Jerzy Buzek, informed OLAF that he was refusing to agree to an investigation being carried out on the EP's premises. OLAF duly sent a legal justification of its mandate to conduct an investigation at the EP on Friday 25 March.
Buzek is expected to provide an answer to OLAF very soon. OLAF considers that it has a remit for carrying out internal investigations into members of the European Parliament. The Inter-institutional Agreement between the European Parliament, Council and Commission further clarifies OLAF's responsibility and explains that this extends beyond the protection of financial interests to include all activities relating to the need to safeguard Community interests against irregular conduct.
According to a legal source at the EP, the Treaty and regulation setting up OLAF stipulate that the latter only has a remit for investigating illegal activities that damage the financial interests of the European Community. The case in point does not involve a threat to the European budget (only private interests are involved) and therefore OLAF cannot carry out its investigations on EP premises. According to the same source, the investigation must be carried out by the appropriate authorities, namely the national authorities of EU member states. If the national authorities request assistance from OLAF in this affair, the EP would not have a problem with OLAF going to the EP's premises. The Austrian and Slovenian authorities (the prosecutor) have already carried out searches as part of this corruption allegation and have seized computer data support records.
Greens agree with OLAF. The Greens/EFA Group at the EP considers that the current regulation clearly indicates that OLAF has a mandate for such enquiries. This group has called on Buzek to “fully collaborate” with the European Anti-Fraud Office. (L.C./transl.fl)