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According to Rue89, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is about to investigate the “conditions under which the EU signed a major services contract for work in Libya with a British company which has not been authorised to work in the country” by Libya’s National Transitional Council.
The affair, which has already been reported by EUobserver, concerns the British firm G4S-UK, which, contrary to expectations, won a 10 million euro contract with the European External action Service to protect EU staff and premises in Libya. Rue89 remarks that the deal raised eyebrows because, unlike its competitors in the call for tenders, the Hungarian firm Argus and the British Canadian Garda World, G4S-UK “had no track record of protecting European delegations”.
The French news website argues that the affair highlights a problem of conflict of interest in the EEAS, which is managed by Britain’s Catherine Ashton —
Some [...] suspect Great Britain of misusing its influence in the EEAS to favour the main private military companies in the UK.
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