OLAF promised support by supervisory committee

The new members of European Union (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF’s supervisory committee have promised to staunch leaks about investigations that have helped fuel criticism of the EU agency. Committee chairman Rosalind Wright told a European Parliament hearing that the leaks had helped to “undermine the morale of the staff of OLAF and have served as a distraction from the real work of the office”. Leaks were a particular problem for OLAF during the Eurostat affair, when it was criticised for not sharing information. Mrs Wright added: “Now that the leaks have, hopefully, ceased and are being investigated and Mr (Franz-Hermann) Brüner has, been reappointed for his final term as director general, OLAF can reapply itself with renewed vigour to its heavy work programme”. She indicated her committee would probably keep criticisms of OLAF private, playing “the role of a critical friend to support, but also to challenge, to question and to make our own constructive suggestions for improvement.”