An auditor of EU finances accused of fraudulently claiming €570,000 in expenses for hunting trips, holidays in Cuba and Switzerland, fuel for his son’s car and the purchase of a vineyard in Burgundy, will lose two-thirds of his pension after a ruling by the union’s highest court. Karel Pinxten, a former Belgian government minister, was paid €17,000 a month after tax when he worked as a member of the EU’s court of auditors for 12 years. His request for a stay of proceedings until a criminal case against him had concluded was also rejected. Pinxten, who is a baron, had argued that all the complaints were unfounded and that “the facts are, to a very large extent, not established”. Olaf estimates the financial loss that Pinxten, a member of the Flemish conservative Open Vld party, would have cost the taxpayer at €570,000.

Source: The Guardian September 30, 2021 13:18 UTC