EU Fraud Still Rampant
As we know, the European Commission presides over a stinking pit of tax-funded fraud and corruption. Which it spends its time covering up. The la-*test*-('") example concerns its Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE), which distributes aid to industry in the developing world. Its former Director, Hamed Sow, "allegedly" came up with a nice little earner: "Fitina, a Malian company... borrowed €3.7m in 2001 to establish a cotton processing factory. It was supposed to buy new machinery but allegedly bought second-hand equipment for far less than the loan. Mr Sow charged Fitina at least €393,000 for his advice, according to invoices seen by the Financial Times. He owned 20 per cent of Fitina, according to a shareholder agreement in August 2000." How brilliant is that? And this isn't the only case of CDE funds going walkabout: "an audit of one office, in Senegal, revealed missing documents, overpayments to staff and unallowable expenses". So what is the EC doing about it? Yes that's right: they're backing the existing board of CDE - the very same board that presided over the corruption - to "reform" themselves. The "reforms" have kicked off with a mass sacking of the CDE staff who blew the whistle. And a proposal to increase CDE's budget by 50%. And Mr Sow? He's fled back to his native Mali where he's been appointed Energy Minister. Philippe Gautier, chairman of the CDE board, says: “I’m not saying there was not corruption or conflicts of interest in the past but many of the rumours are untrue.” Yeah. Right. And remember: thanks to Bliar's brilliant renegotiation of our budget contributions, British taxpayers will be handing over £42bn to these sleazeballs over the next seven years (see this blog). We wonder how much of it will end up in Mr Sow's Swiss bank account. http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2008/04/euro-fraud-still-rampant.html
As we know, the European Commission presides over a stinking pit of tax-funded fraud and corruption. Which it spends its time covering up. The la-*test*-('") example concerns its Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE), which distributes aid to industry in the developing world. Its former Director, Hamed Sow, "allegedly" came up with a nice little earner: "Fitina, a Malian company... borrowed €3.7m in 2001 to establish a cotton processing factory. It was supposed to buy new machinery but allegedly bought second-hand equipment for far less than the loan. Mr Sow charged Fitina at least €393,000 for his advice, according to invoices seen by the Financial Times. He owned 20 per cent of Fitina, according to a shareholder agreement in August 2000." How brilliant is that? And this isn't the only case of CDE funds going walkabout: "an audit of one office, in Senegal, revealed missing documents, overpayments to staff and unallowable expenses". So what is the EC doing about it? Yes that's right: they're backing the existing board of CDE - the very same board that presided over the corruption - to "reform" themselves. The "reforms" have kicked off with a mass sacking of the CDE staff who blew the whistle. And a proposal to increase CDE's budget by 50%. And Mr Sow? He's fled back to his native Mali where he's been appointed Energy Minister. Philippe Gautier, chairman of the CDE board, says: “I’m not saying there was not corruption or conflicts of interest in the past but many of the rumours are untrue.” Yeah. Right. And remember: thanks to Bliar's brilliant renegotiation of our budget contributions, British taxpayers will be handing over £42bn to these sleazeballs over the next seven years (see this blog). We wonder how much of it will end up in Mr Sow's Swiss bank account. http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2008/04/euro-fraud-still-rampant.html