65 posts
OLAF Activity Report 2010: the Usual Suspect
We now have the 2009 report of the European anti-fraud office, OLAF. The report outlines a number of case studies – misuse of Parliamentary expenses by an ex-MEP, embezzlement by the director of an NGO, widespread corruption and fraud in the ma...
ACTA negotiators inform the Parliament in secret
The ACTA negotiators from the Commission came to the European Parliament today, to inform the Parliament about what happened in the last round of negotiations in Luzern. However, the meeting where the information was to be given was declared ”i...
22 EU parliamentarians withdraw signatures from controversial declaration - update
Update (17 June): It seems like the declaration has been adopted. Here it is, on the list of adopted declarations. What a disgrace! According to Europaportalen.se, MEPs have started to withdraw their signatures from a controversial EP declaration.
UN prosecutor still critical of Serbia and Croatia
A highly anticipated report by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, on Serbia's and Croatia's cooperation with the court appears less positive than both countries were expec...
Diana observes the Karadzic trial at The Hague
Diana visits The Hague and observes the Karadzic trial at first hand. Here are her remarks:...
Good news from the Engin Çeber case!
Engin Ceber – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Çeber Case: Life Sentences for 3 Prison Guards and Head of Prison from Bianet :: English Three prison guards and the vice director of Metris Prison were convicted of “causing death by...
Robin Hood robbery at European Parliament
Twitter is buzzing with tweets signalling that a robbery took place in the cafeteria of the European Parliament, after MEP Alexender Alvaro sent out a short message stating “Another robbery at the European Parliament – how is it possible...
Mathematical Recreations Open Thread
Obituary: Martin Gardner dies at 95; prolific mathematics columnist for Scientific American - latimes.comMartin Gardner,...
EU Copper Heist freezes Brussels institutions
The Pentecost weekend was filled with copper thefts, ranging from unsuccessful attempts to Guinness Book of Records achievements. The first, but unsuccessful, attempt happened during the night of Friday to Saturday on the Belgian railway line 140 ‘...
Keeping the Resources to Fight Trafficking
When I launched my successful campaign to retain specialist staff at the Metropolitan Police tackling trafficking of women in October 2009, I was a little surprised at the number of people who questioned the amount of trafficked women there are in L...
More disturbing stories from foreign press about Montenegrin criminal ties
The unsatisfactory security situation in Montenegro and the inefficiency of state and its institutions in the fight against organised crime were once again pointed out by many foreign media. Magazine Economist wrote about „Balkan imbroglio“ an...
Massive crack-down on Argentinean sheep
On 13 April, the Argentinean police announced the capture of two convicts who escaped from jail by disguising themselves as sheep (as reported by the Telegraph). The two convicts were able to hide from the 300 policemen searching for them for more th...
EU criminal justice: European evidence warrant and beyond
One of the main aims of the European Union is to offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice (FSJ) without internal frontiers. With the Lisbon Treaty in force since 1 December 2009, the provisions on judicial cooperation in criminal...
European arrest warrant: EU & UK
In the report Justice issues in Europe, the UK House of Commons Justice Committee discusses matters relevant to the development of the European Union’s area of freedom, security and justice (FSJ). This timely report is interesting both generally an...
Let’s Arrest the Pope
I’ve written before about the antiwar faction’s talismanic reverence for the concept of legality, and it’s this that trips up Liam MacUaid’s argument against arresting the Pope when he makes his publicly funded visit to the...
85.6% of Japanese Public Supports Capital Punishment…Really?
I have been assessing the extent to which the EU can try and urge Japan to change its accepted norms on human rights regarding capital punishment, and came across this article the other day: Japan Today (2010) “Record High 85.6% in Favor of Death P...
"like, whatever:" today's standards, as Serious People see them
Pope Offers Apology, Not Penalty, for Sex Abuse Scandal Nowhere in the letter did Benedict...
On the Benchmarks for Reform and Bulgarian Organized Crime
There is an ongoing crackdown on organized crime in Bulgaria. This should be good news. But the prosecution will have to prove allegations in court. The benchmark is judgments with res judicata. There’s also the Bulgarian Supreme Judicial Counc...
Zionism, anti-semitism, ex-public schoolboys and the left
Anti-semitic attacks in Britain in 2009 reached their highest level since they were first recorded in 1984. Reported and verified attacks (physical, verbal abuse, bullying of schoolchildren, desecration of graves, etc) on Jewish people, properti...
EU: Criminal enforcement of IPR? Resurrection of IPRED2?
In the blog post EU IPR enforcement discussion (12 January 2010) we mentioned the conference arranged by the Swedish presidency of the Council of the European Union: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, with a Special Focus on Trademarks and...
Framework Decision on Settlement of Conflicts of Jurisdiction in Criminal Proceedings
The Framework Decision 2009/948/JHA on prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings has been published in the Official Journal. It establishes a procedure for establishing contact between the competent au...
EUX.TV on 5 billion Euro CO2 emissions trading fraud
Raymond Frenken who first made me aware of the massive CO2 emissions trading fraud has produced an EUX.TV video on the matter:...
Tackling violence against women
Domestic violence is at last moving up up the agenda of the EU. As the Swedes come to the end of their presidency of the European Council and the Spanish take over, violence against women looks set to be given a higher priority. It is an area...
Jobs, crime and climate at European Council
All 27 Heads of State and Government will gather tonight and tomorrow in Brussels for the European Council. Discussions on how to create conditions for new jobs in Europe will on top of the agenda. A new ”EU2020 strategy” is planned to follow on...
Europol: 5 Billion Euro fraud in EU CO2 emissions trading
Via Raymond Frenken I was made aware of a Europol press release that reports about fraud in the EU CO2 emissions trading, including a graphic that explains how this worked. But the sum is incredible: 5 billion Euros lost for the European taxpayer!!"...
Update on the Petition to keep the Met Police Specialist Trafficking Unit
You will know from previous blogs that I presented a petition on 26 November to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) Board to try and stop the Metropolitan Police closing their special dedicated human trafficking unit. The meeting was broad...
International anarchy at sea
This blog has written before about the spate of piracy in the seas off the coast of Somalia. Ships are being taken hostage and ransomed back to their owners; the same is true of passengers on smaller craft.The limits of the law are exposed in these...
EU and Industry need closer dialogue on tobacco smuggling
I understand that there is a motion for resolution doing the rounds in the European Parliament basically banning any contact between the tobacco industry and the EU institutions. If this is true, not only is it gratuitously prohibitive and an ill-tho...
The Mafie (plural) – a problem for us all
In my little speech yesterday in Palermo I stressed the fact that, whilst we were honouring two noble and courageous local causes, the problems they were addressing – poverty and organised crime – were problems all of Europe had to face.
Down you go...
And so ex-UKIP MEP Tom Wise has been jailed for fraudulently claiming £39,000 in allowances from the European Parliament. He used his monthly staff allowance to pay for "fine wines" and other personal expenditure.His researcher, Lindsay Jenkins, was...
Racist Crimes are Underreported in Europe
The European Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey shows that most of the racism-motivated crimes are not reported in EU Member States. Most of the interviewed didn’t report, because it would not change anything (63%). Roma in 4 countries...
EU: Victims of crime & compensation
Becoming the victim of a crime can have devastating consequences. If it happens to you outside your country of residence, your difficulties in getting help may be even greater. The member states of the European Union cooperate to build an area of fre...
Exchange of Information Extracted from the Criminal Records of Member States
The Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA on the organisation and content of the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record between Member States has been published in the Official Journal. Its main aim is to improve the exchange of...
EU: Criminal records
Slowly the European area of freedom, security and justice is taking shape. Two important justice and home affairs (JHA) acts concerning criminal records in cross-border cases have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 7.
A deadly combination of crime and religion
In my last week article “Quadruple Helix …” I shortly hinted to financial connection between Wahhabi organizations and international terrorism. I also pointed historical and social link between organized crime groups and political leaders and...
The safe and law-abiding Balkans
Via the invaluable Osservatorio sui Balcani comes a fascinating report on crime in the Balkans. It’s by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (ONODC), and it offers some surprising conclusions: [The] Balkans is safer than thought…...
