OLAF Investigations against MEPs
On 30 April 2020, OLAF informed the public that it had successfully concluded two internal investigations against MEPs and their staff. The investigations were launched in 2017/2018 after allegations that money from salaries was being transferred to the national political parties. This is not allowed under the rules of the EP.
In the first investigation, OLAF found that MEPs and staff working for the party delegation at the EP had made contributions of over €640,000 to the national headquarters of the party between 2014 and 2019. The payments had been made on the basis of party rules that do not comply with Union law.
In the second investigation, OLAF revealed that certain MEPs had paid €3000-4000 per month to their national party (in total more than €540,000) between 2014 and 2019. Moreover, the party had asked parliamentary assistants to contribute to the party; the MEPs were aware of this and made arrangements for higher salaries to be paid in order to allow for contributions to be made to the national party.
OLAF called on the EP to effectively sanction such breaches of its rules; sanctioning measures are not in place at the moment. OLAF recommended initiating disciplinary proceedings against the staff involved. In the second investigation, OLAF also recommended the recovery of the money from the MEPs in question.