History
OLAF was created in 1999, after strong pressure from the European Parliament. Its predecessor UCLAF (Unité de coordination de lutte anti-fraude), an anti-fraud unit dependent of the European Commission, had failed to convince in the fight against irregularities within the European Institutions. The creation of OLAF is one result of the debates about allegations of fraud and the conduct of former European Commissioner Édith Cresson which in the end led to the collective resignation of the Santer Commission.
An evaluation of the work of OLAF can be found in the Special Report of the European Court of Auditors of July 2005.
The European Parliament took stock of the first six years of OLAF during a public hearing in July 2005.
The UK House of Lords, in a report published in November 2006, stated: "On the basis of the evidence we have received we emphatically refute claims that OLAF is too close to the Commission or that the Commission seeks to divert and influence OLAF’s investigative activities". The House of Lords concluded: "We are content with the extent of the investigations which OLAF has undertaken."
Read more about this topic: European Anti-fraud Office
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“It is true that this man was nothing but an elemental force in motion, directed and rendered more effective by extreme cunning and by a relentless tactical clairvoyance .... Hitler was history in its purest form.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)