Finn joins fraud squad

Date: 29/02/1996

The Commission is finally plugging a loophole in its anti-fraud measures by appointing a Finn to join the squad which is responsible for sifting the calls on its whistle-blowers' hotline.

Until now, no one has been able to understand any incoming messages spilling the beans on Finnish fiddlers - which explains why Finland is only now being given its own fraud phone number so that the public can pass on information to Brussels, anonymously if they wish.

The delay has not just affected the Finns: it was considered undiplomatic to organise phone numbers for Austria and Sweden as long as their EU membership soul mate was forced to wait, even though they themselves faced no language problems within the anti-fraud unit.

The new recruits could be kept busy. By now, more than a year after membership, there could be a serious backlog of whistle-blowers from the three countries waiting to flood the Commission's telecommunications nerve-centre with fraud-busting information.