Dutch auditor spills beans on EU fraud

“Sabotage at the European Court of Auditors,” headlines De Volkskrant. The daily has published interview with Maarten Engwirda, a former Dutch member of the EU financial watchdog, who, after 15 years auditing European spending, has turned against his former colleagues. During his time at the court, Engwirda claims he observed several incidents of fraudulent behaviour, which included the manipulation of reports and the “removal of traces of financial misconduct.” Describing the Court of Auditors as an institution characterised by a “culture of silence” which gives member states free rein to indulge in fraudulent spending, Engwirda does however remark that the situation has much improved since 2005, when the then European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Siim Kallas, argued that the figures published in the Court of Auditors annual report were not accurate. In 2009, 3.8 billion euros were considered to be incorrectly spent by Europe’s member states: that is 3.3% of the EU’s budget and also the lowest estimate of misspent funds ever reported.