WRITTEN QUESTION E-0931/01 by Jonas Sjöstedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Lost ‐ 16 million kronor.
Date: 2001-03-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Bosnia and Herzegovina, EU financing, Luxembourg, criminal procedure, financial control, fraud against the EU, humanitarian aid

11.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 350 E/59

In the course of the Reform being undertaken in the Commission, on 28 November 2000 the College
adopted a consultative document (1) on the reform of disciplinary proceedings. That document sets out the
details and reasons for the Commission(cid:146)s proposals for making changes to the rules relating to the
composition and working procedures of the Disciplinary Board and to other features of the disciplinary
system. The Commission proposes to maintain the role of the Disciplinary Board, whilst modifying certain
procedural rules concerning its composition and working procedures.

(1) SEC(2000) 2079.

(2001/C 350 E/063)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0931/01

by Jonas Sj(cid:246)stedt (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Subject: Lost (cid:129) 16 million kronor

Messrs Perry Lux of Luxembourg were hired by ECHO to carry out three aid projects in Bosnia for a sum
corresponding to 24 million Swedish kronor. The project fizzled out in a large-scale fraud case. The
equivalent of some 16 million Swedish kronor disappeared.

What is the Commission doing to locate the missing money and is it giving serious consideration to ways
of calling the officials responsible to account for their errors in connection with the fraud case?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(25 June 2001)

Based on information obtained in March 1997 that four operational contracts totalling € 4 million for
humanitarian aid were suspicious, UCLAF launched an inquiry with controls on the spot in Luxembourg,
Ireland and former Yugoslavia. The inquiry report concludes, among other things, that further inquiries are
necessary by the national judicial authorities to establish the ultimate beneficiaries of funds which have not
been traced to date.

As suggested by UCLAF ECHO has issued immediately a recovery order against (cid:145)Perry Lux Informatic(cid:146) for
one of the four contracts. This recovery order was contested within a law suit filed in April 1998 in the
Court of First Instance of the European Communities (T-132/98). Later on this company went bankrupt
and the liquidators requested that the Court suspend the proceedings, awaiting the outcome of a penal
procedure launched by the judicial authorities of Luxembourg. The Court accepted this request on 25 June
1999. The penal procedure is still ongoing and the Commission is defending the financial interests of the
Community as a civil party in this procedure.

As far as the three other contracts which were concluded with two subsidiaries of Perry-Lux in Ireland: The
two subsidiaries were already dissolved in 1996, before the UCLAF investigation started. The investigation
has not enabled the Commission to identify, for example, a liquidator against whom a recovery could have
been launched. Therefore, the Commission will defend the Communities(cid:146) financial interests as described
under 2 within the on-going penal procedure in these cases as well.

As concerns the disciplinary measures taken in relation to this matter, the Commission refers to the
detailed answers it has already given in the framework of the discharge procedure for the general budget
1999 (Blak-report).