Because he has breached his obligations as a Member of the European Court of Auditors, Belgian Karel Pinxten must be deprived of two thirds of his pension rights and related benefits from the date of delivery of the judgment, Advocate General Gerard Hogan said in a Opinion delivered on Thursday 17 December (Case C-130/19).
Based on a report by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) in July 2018, the European Court of Auditors criticises Mr Pinxten, its former member from 2006 to 2018 for: – misuse of public resources in activities unrelated to his duties; – accumulating unjustified absences; – unauthorised transmission of confidential information; – being guilty of a conflict of interest.
According to OLAF, 332 assignments validated by Mr Pinxten were not related to the performance of his duties, such as trips to Cuba and Crans-Montana (Switzerland) with his wife and three hunting trips to Chambord (France). The former Belgian minister also claimed refunds and payments for activities related to his personal interests, such as the purchase of a vineyard. He abused the petrol cards he had been given and, in parallel to his official duties, he managed a commercial company and carried out intense activity within the Open VLD party. In addition, Mr Pinxten allegedly made false statements to the insurance company in connection with alleged accidents involving his company vehicle.
OLAF recommended recovering the sum of €472,869, corresponding to the costs unduly borne by the Court of Auditors, and to consider recovering €97,955, corresponding to the salaries paid in respect of the periods of unjustified absences of Mr Pinxten.
Mr Hogan rejects all the arguments of the former Member of the European Court of Auditors, such as the principle of effective judicial protection, the irregularity of the acts by which the Court of Auditors referred the matter to the Court of Justice of the EU or the illegality of the OLAF report.
This is the second case in which the Court of Justice has been asked to rule on the legal and ethical rules governing the conduct of a person holding high office in a European institution after the ‘Cresson’ case which led to the fall of the European Commission presided over by Jacques Santer (see EUROPE 9230/22).
See the conclusions: https://bit.ly/2WCMLsK (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)