Brussels, 15/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has decided to open an investigation into the accounts of the Committee of the Regions, following allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement. This information, reported in the Financial Times, has been confirmed by a source within the Committee of the Regions, while the OLAF has decided not to comment. The Committee of the Regions says that it is ready to co-operate with all relevant institutions, the institution concerned said. The start of this investigation comes a few days after the decision by the European Parliament, on 8th April, to postpone granting discharge on the Committee of the Regions' 2001 accounts (see EUROPE of 9th April, p.10), notably because of "the reserves expressed by the financial controller on the matters of reimbursement for expenses relating to participation in external meetings, of travel expenses and daily indemnities." (according to the text of the European Parliament resolution).
Other than the reserves expressed on the subject of meeting and travel expenses, the other motives that led the European Parliament to postpone discharge are the following: - contradictions and differences of interpretation between the financial controllers' documents and those of the administrative head of the Committee of the Regions as received in the discharge context, contradictions and differences which were confirmed during the meeting of the budgetary control committee of 19th March 2003 ; - a specific request by the financial controller hoping to obtain outside assistance to help resolve the problems of financial management ; - the financial controller's reservations on the matters of reimbursement of participation expenses at external meetings, of travel expenses and daily indemnities. The Parliament has invited the Committee of the Regions to name without delay an accredited outside institution - preferably the European Court of Auditors - to undertake a complete and thorough independent audit on the execution of the general budget of the committee as well as on the financial and administrative management. The parliamentarians make it clear that his audit should prove the sound financial management of the institution and should be handed in to the discharge authority as soon as possible in order to allow it to examine the final decision relevant to the 2001 discharge, at the latest for October 2003.