EU tax scandal: Investigators open fraud probe into top eurocrats after Panama Papers leak
FRAUD investigators are probing a number of high-ranking EU officials over allegations that they used offshore bank accounts to avoid paying tax, it emerged today.
By NICK GUTTERIDGE, BRUSSELS CORRESPONDENT
Express.co.uk
Wed, Jun 7, 2017
In a bombshell move the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) announced it is forensically examining the accounts of several top EU officials and civil servants over revelations contained in the Panama Papers.
An astonishing 40,000 people connected to the European Union were named in the massive document leak, which showed how the rich and famous had been using secret offshore accounts to dodge paying their fair share of tax.
Only one of those has been publicly named – the Dutch former Commissioner Neelie Kroes – but the number is believed to include EU Commission officials, contractors and politicians.
The initial OLAF probe will focus on 17 individuals of particular interest, although French media reported that “other investigations may follow” in the near future.
None of the names of those being investigated have been published and none have been found guilty of any wrongdoing. OLAF has wide-ranging powers to seize documents and interrogate suspects and witnesses.
The fraud watchdog’s Director-General, Giovanni Kessler, told French newspaper La Tribune he was pleased that “so few cases” related to Brussels had been raised.
However, alarmingly he revealed that it was the first time EU staff involved in the Panama Papers leak had been probed, saying “no EU member state had carried out any such checks”.
The revelations come at a difficult time for the EU, with Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker still dogged by questions about his time as prime minister of Luxembourg.
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