EU’s Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) stands accused of failing to investigate cases of misused EU funds in Greece, despite tip-offs submitted by a Greek official.
Anti-corruption officials in Brussels have reportedly failed to investigate reports of squandered EU funds at a training institute in Greece, German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung reported last Friday. Well-connected teachers were allegedly paid up to €610 per hour for up to 225 work hours per month.
The German daily reports that a Greek civil servant uncovered multiple cases of nepotism and vastly inflated salaries while inspecting the finances of a vocational training institute. Officials in Brussels have apparently not acted on any of the whistleblower’s suspicions, which he communicated in several letters, the paper added.
“The details provided by the Süddeutsche Zeitung are sure to raise eyebrows. Some of the instructors are said to have been paid for up to 225 hours per month, even during periods when they were abroad. Hourly wages for teachers were reportedly as high as €610. The alleged corruption was compounded by apparent instances of nepotism: The son of a cabinet member taught a course on silver-plating watches, the wife of a Socialist politician led classes on both dentistry and geography, and relatives of the institute’s leader held jobs there.”
According to the newspaper report, Giorgos Boutos, a government finance official in Athens, began auditing the books of the Organization for Vocation Education and Training (OEEK) in 2006. The institute receives and distributes EU funds earmarked for vocational training in Greece. Boutros repeatedly stumbled upon irregularities and documented the cases in numerous letters to OLAF.
The suspected squandering of public funds is a particularly touchy issue, as it was considered a contributing factor in Greece’s ongoing debt crisis.
The case involves at least €6 million ($8.2 million). It’s not an excessive sum of money, but it is well documented. Boutos was able to substantiate the irregularities in his letters to the EU with contracts, hotel bills and bank statements. He reportedly found that 75 percent of the misappropriated money had come from the EU.
Boutos first sent documents about the suspected fraud to the EU in July 2010. But he heard nothing from the Greek representative at OLAF, while a letter to Director-General Giovanni Kessler went unanswered. (full story with details in Der Spiegel English)
Why should Kessler intervene? EU funds are distributed to the several EU member countries and are distributed by the national institutions. No, there is no control mechanism by the central EU, that’s why “Germany wanted to change this process of uncontrolled funds distribution”- I remember to have read last year (?)
BTW: the Funds were not wasted. They landed in friendly pockets….
Nevertheless the news reminds me of the joke with the Spanish and Greek mayor and the four-lanes road they were supposed to build with EU funds. The Spanish mayor built a two-lanes road and a luxury villa. The Greek built a one-lane road and a super luxury villa – with the EU funds. I heard, the joke is as old as the funds coming from Brussels.
PS Nepotism? In Greece? Not possible!
I reported a blatant misuse of an Eu grant to Brussels and their response was “we are happy with the paperwork but you could go through a Greek Court if you are not happy”!!!!!!! Yeah right! Brussels was too busy filling in expenses forms to bother. Disgusting!
I tipped off Brussels and they ignored me and said go through the Greek Courts if I wasn’t happy!!! Think they were too busy filling in their expenses claims to bother worrying about the misuse of European taxpayers money.