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| Europe |
| "A Vast Enterprise of Looting" |
| 2003-10-29 |
| EFL: The European Commission was facing a crisis last night after its auditors found Brussels had failed to shut down a network of slush funds and that abuses had spread beyond a statistics office at the centre of the scandal. MEPs called for the head of Pedro Solbes, the economics commissioner, after a final audit report leaked yesterday said missing records and the total breakdown of financial control at Eurostat, the statistics agency, made it impossible to know how much taxpayers’ money had vanished or what it was used for. Investigators identified the loss of £3 million in "a vast enterprise of looting" by senior officials in Luxembourg, mostly through inflated contracts with outside firms. Eurostat kept no central register of its contracts and records were missing "or destroyed" in 54 per cent of cases. "Not even copies of bank statements have been kept," the report said. Well, at least they are efficient at something. The few documents that have come to light from the slush funds, known as "financial reserves", show payments of £7,500 to the "Casino equestrian society" and £1,700 to the "Beaufort equestrian club" but auditors are certain that was just the tip of the iceberg. -insert horse sh*t jokes here- Lack of records made it impossible to discover any truth to Eurostat staff claims that slush funds were used "to get the job done" in the face of red tape. "We cannot give an opinion on the possibility of fraud involving personal enrichment," said the report. Oh, but we can. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #8 The more I read and hear about the European The only way to stop crooks before they rob you is to make it VERY PAINFUL for crooks who try - by making sure you catch them, and by making their lives as miserable as possible after they're caught. You want to instil in them the fact that their behavior will result in some very unsavory, and hopefully painful, consequences. The only way to stop crooked bureaucrats is to treat the ones that are NOT honest and trustworthy as crooks. The punishment, however, for a person in a position of trust should be even harsher than for a common crook, who makes no bones about thumbing his nose at society. The government crook not only steals our money, they destroy our trust of government. Lining the Princess Charlotte bridge in Luxembourg with the heads of crooked politicians may not lead to any rapid change in the affairs of European governments, but it would probably cause the entire political class in Europe to sleep less easily at night. Come to think of it, it's not a bad idea for the Brooklin Bridge and the Anacostia bridge, as well... Er, maybe Golden Gate??? Naaah, too radical. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-29 10:59:32 PM |
| #7 "The European Commission was facing a crisis last night..." Poor start to the article. An unusual, attention-grabbing starter sentence would read: "The European Commission was not facing a crisis last night..." |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-10-29 8:18:12 PM |
| #6 How about hiring them to approve your tax refund instead? |
| Posted by: Old Grouch 2003-10-29 8:08:16 PM |
| #5 Can I hire these guys to do my taxes? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-10-29 5:57:07 PM |
| #4 Let's see if I understand this correctly-the Eurostat staff makes the rules,then claims the rules they made prevent them from doing their jobs,so they must break the rules they made in order to make new rules.This should prove once and for all to doubting Americans that Europeans do have a sense of humor. On a more serious note,anyone notice a pattern? France refuses to keep EU economic treaty obligations.Eurostat staff ignores regulations "to get the job done".EU beaureacrat ignores EU courts and staff and continually tries to fine Microsoft. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2003-10-29 5:04:02 PM |
| #3 "We cannot give an opinion on the possibility of fraud involving personal enrichment," said the report. That hurricane force wind from across the pond is thousands of Euro beaureacrats exhaling all at once. Looks like you beat the rap again, boys. Convene the gala dinner at once so we can get to the bottom of this! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-10-29 4:38:03 PM |
| #2 Lack of records made it impossible to discover any truth to Eurostat staff claims that slush funds were used "to get the job done" in the face of red tape. "We cannot give an opinion on the possibility of fraud involving personal enrichment," said the report. Okay then, let's put it in a simple yes-or-no question: Is the existence of fraud a possibility? |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-29 4:37:31 PM |
| #1 LIES! ALL LIES! |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-29 4:25:23 PM |