Audit Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human Rights
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
1. Audit reports and its annexes for the contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human Rights. Details for the particular contracts I refer could be found here
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fil...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/conta...
and here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
2. Relevant information and related documents on respect of collaboration of Court of Auditors with OLAF on these cases
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r...
3. Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of legal services to FRA staff" . http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear Mr. Nicholson,
Thank you for your email of 20 June 2013 in which you request documents
which contain information on audits that may have been done at FRA and
possible ECA collaboration with OLAF regarding FRA. Under the terms of
Decision No 12-2005 of the Court of Auditors regarding public access to
Court documents you will receive a reply within 15 working days, that is
by 10 July 2013.
Kindest regards,
Aidas Palubinskas
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date: 20/06/2013 09:42
Subject: access to information request - Audit Reports on Contracts
concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for
Human Rights
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as
developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which
contain the following information:
1. Audit reports and its annexes for the contracts concluded by
European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human
Rights. Details for the particular contracts I refer could be found
here
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fil...
[2]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
[3]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/conta...
and here
[4]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
2. Relevant information and related documents on respect of
collaboration of Court of Auditors with OLAF on these cases
[5]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r...
3. Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of
legal services to FRA staff" .
[6]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a request for access to information under Article 15 of the
TFEU and, where applicable, Regulation 1049/2001 which has been
sent via the AsktheEU.org website.
Please kindly use this email address for all replies to this
request: [FOI #564 email]
If [European Court of Auditors request email] is the wrong address for information
requests to European Court of Auditors, please tell the
AsktheEU.org team on email [email address]
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be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see
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1. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fil...
2. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
3. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/conta...
4. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
5. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r...
6. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
7. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
Dear European Court of Auditors,
In relation to point 3 of my initial request (Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of legal services to FRA staff"), I would like to outline that I request access to the signed version of documents audited at FRA.
Last week FRA published its assignments to lawyers
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
and is apparent that several forms used for payment are not signed. I request information on the validity of those not signed purchase orders. Some of the orders are signed only by FRA. I would like to know if those orders were used for payment or if there exists an other version used.
Also is apparent that the legislation used by FRA for procuring legal services is different to the legislation applicable to the rest of EU institutions and agencies. At FRA legal services are treated as "goods", there is no tender dossier, no prior advertisement, no post publication, etc. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/537/r...
I request information about which legislation for contracting matters are applicable at FRA.
In order to allow you to make a full view on my requests see details here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/how_m... and here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear Mr. Nicholson,
By email of 20 June 2013, you request access to documents which contain
the following information:
"1. Audit reports and its annexes for the contracts concluded by
European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human
Rights. Details for the particular contracts I refer could be found
here
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fil...
[2]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
[3]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/conta...
and here
[4]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
2. Relevant information and related documents on respect of
collaboration of Court of Auditors with OLAF on these cases
[5]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r...
3. Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of
legal services to FRA staff" .
[6]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
According to Article 162 paragraph 1 of the Financial Regulation
(Regulation No 966/2012), the Court’s audit observations, submitted to the
auditee concerned “must remain confidential”. Only those observations that
the Court has decided to include in its final report may be disclosed to
the public.
Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Court of Auditor's Decision (No 12 /2005)
on public access to Court Documents states, with reference to the FR, that
the Court shall refuse access to its audit observations and may also
refuse access to documents used in the preparation of those observations.
Article 4, paragraph 3 of Decision No 12 /2005 states that the Court
is to refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine inter
alia the protection of inspections, investigations and audits.
The documents containing the information you are seeking are covered by
those exception.
I would also like to draw your attention to Recital 15 to
Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (OJ 1999 L 136, p. 1) which provides:
" ..., for the sake of successful cooperation between the Office, the
Member States and the relevant institutions, bodies, offices and agencies,
the reciprocal exchange of information must be organised, subject to rules
of confidentiality where information is subject to professional secrecy,
..." (emphasis added)
I can thus only provide you with the audit reports which the Court has
prepared concerning the European Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna.
These are the regular annual reports on the accounts of the Agency. After
final adoption, these reports are published in the Official Journal of the
European Union. The link to the electronic version of the latest reports
are:
Copy of the report for the 2011 financial year:
[7]http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
Copy of the report for the 2010 financial year:
[8]http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
We draw your attention to the fact that, pursuant to Article 7 of Decision
No. 12/2005, you may make a confirmatory application, within 15 working
days of receiving its reply, and ask the ECA to reconsider its position.
Sincerely,
Aidas Palubinskas
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date: 08/07/2013 08:02
Subject: Re: access to information request - Audit Reports on
Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish
Institute for Human Rights
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear European Court of Auditors,
In relation to point 3 of my initial request (Audit Report on FRA
procurement procedure for "Provision of legal services to FRA
staff"), I would like to outline that I request access to the
signed version of documents audited at FRA.
Last week FRA published its assignments to lawyers
[9]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
and is apparent that several forms used for payment are not signed.
I request information on the validity of those not signed purchase
orders. Some of the orders are signed only by FRA. I would like to
know if those orders were used for payment or if there exists an
other version used.
Also is apparent that the legislation used by FRA for procuring
legal services is different to the legislation applicable to the
rest of EU institutions and agencies. At FRA legal services are
treated as "goods", there is no tender dossier, no prior
advertisement, no post publication, etc.
[10]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/537/r...
I request information about which legislation for contracting
matters are applicable at FRA.
In order to allow you to make a full view on my requests see
details here
[11]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/how_m...
and here
[12]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of European Court of Auditors's handling of my FOI request 'Audit Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human Rights'.
Confirmatory application.
1. In relation to your argument below:
“According to Article 162 paragraph 1 of the Financial Regulation (Regulation No 966/2012), the Court’s audit observations, submitted to the auditee concerned “must remain confidential”. Only those observations that the Court has decided to include in its final report may be disclosed to the public”, I request access to observations and preliminary findings related to these 2 Reports by Court of Auditors for 2009 and 2010, which have Observations included in the final report http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
For 2011 Report I request access to a piece of information, namely if the Court audited this Contracts http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files... concluded by FRA with Danish Institute for Human Rights. If yes, I request access to the documents used in the preparation of any existing observations.
In this respect, see Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Court of Auditor's Decision (No 12 /2005) on public access to Court Documents which states, with reference to the FR, that the Court shall refuse access to its audit observations but may grant access to documents used in the preparation of those observations (may refuse but also or may grant).
I invoke the same jurisprudence as the one invoked here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque... and below:
“In accordance to p. 165 of Judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal of 2 May 2007 in Case F-23/05: “it has to be recognized that a culture of accountability has grown up within the Community institutions, responding in particular to the concern of the public to be informed and assured that malfunctions and frauds are identified and, as appropriate, duly eliminated and punished. The consequence of that requirement is that officials and other
servants who hold posts of responsibility within an administration such as the Commission must take into account the possible existence of a justified need to communicate a degree of information to the public”.
Relying on this jurisprudence and on the precedence created by EDPS, which granted access to documents following a confirmatory application (see above the link to EDPS approval) I request a review of your decision and request access to the observations CoA used in respect of Audit for 2011 at FRA and European Commission.
I also rely on the fact that the FRA and EC` Contractor (DIHR/IMR) is suspect of fraud http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h... as can be seen in several postings in this website and therefore the jurisprudence mentioned above is fully and dully justified to be applied (right of public to know how public money are used).
I also remind you about my request to access the Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of legal services to FRA staff".
In light of the above, I request a review of your decision and approval of my requests to access the requested documents.
---------
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.asktheeu.org/request/audit_re...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear Mr. Nicholson,
Thank you for your request for reconsideration of 09 July 2013. In accord
with Decision 12/2005 of the Court of Auditors regarding public access to
Court documents, it will be handled within 15 business days.
Kindest regards,
Aidas Palubinskas
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date: 09/07/2013 10:55
Subject: Internal review of access to information request - Audit
Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with
Danish Institute for Human Rights
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
[6]http://www.asktheeu.org/request/audit_re...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #564 email]
This message and all replies from European Court of Auditors will
be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see
our dedicated page for EU public officials at
[7]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**********************
Disclaimer: If you have received this message in error, please contact the
sender immediately.
**********************
Avertissement : Si ce message vous a été adressé par erreur, nous vous
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References
Visible links
1. http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
2. http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
3. http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files...
4. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
5. http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h...
6. http://www.asktheeu.org/request/audit_re...
7. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
Dear European Court of Auditors,
This is a kind reminder that my request of 9 July 2013 did not receive a reply.
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear Mr. Nicholson,
Our sincere apologies. It was my understanding that we'd replied to you.
By email of 20 June 2013, you requested access to documents which
contain the following information:
"1. Audit reports and its annexes for the contracts concluded by
European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human
Rights. Details for the particular contracts I refer could be found
here
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/fil...
[2]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
[3]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/conta...
and here
[4]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
2. Relevant information and related documents on respect of
collaboration of Court of Auditors with OLAF on these cases
[5]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r...
3. Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of
legal services to FRA staff" .
[6]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende...
The reports on FRA can be found here:
[7]http://eca.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/...
According to Article 162 paragraph 1 of the Financial Regulation
(Regulation No 966/2012), the Court’s audit observations, submitted to the
auditee concerned “must remain confidential”. Only those observations that
the Court has decided to include in its final report may be disclosed to
the public.
Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Court of Auditor's Decision (No 12 /2005)
on public access to Court Documents states, with reference to the FR, that
the Court shall refuse access to its audit observations and may also
refuse access to documents used in the preparation of those observations.
Article 4, paragraph 3 of Decision No 12 /2005 states that the Court
is to refuse access to a document where disclosure would undermine inter
alia the protection of inspections, investigations and audits.
The documents containing the information you are seeking are covered by
those exception.
I would also like to draw your attention to Recital 15 to
Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European
Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) (OJ 1999 L 136, p. 1) which provides:
" ..., for the sake of successful cooperation between the Office, the
Member States and the relevant institutions, bodies, offices and agencies,
the reciprocal exchange of information must be organised,subject to rules
of confidentiality where information is subject to professional secrecy,
..." (emphasis added)
We draw your attention to the fact that, pursuant to Article 7 of Decision
No. 12/2005, you may make a confirmatory application, within 15 working
days of receiving its reply, and ask the ECA to reconsider its position.
Sincerely,
Aidas Palubinskas
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: [European Court of Auditors request email]
Date: 24/07/2013 08:28
Subject: Re: Internal review of access to information request -
Audit Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna
with Danish Institute for Human Rights
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear European Court of Auditors,
This is a kind reminder that my request of 9 July 2013 did not receive a
reply.
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Thank you for your reply and recommendation to make a confirmatory application. But I already did it in 9 July 2013. See above. The Court send an acknowledgement in the same day. I then submitted a reminder in 24 July 2013, but the reply given by COA do not cover at all the content of my confirmatory application.
May I kindly ask you to address my confirmatory application submitted to you on 9 July 2013?
As per your request, I submit hereby a new one but legally and technically speaking the only valid confirmatory application is the one I sent on 9 July 2013. The present one is only to comply once again with the requirement of COA. So here is :
Second confirmatory application:
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of European Court of Auditors's handling of my FOI request 'Audit Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with Danish Institute for Human Rights'.
DETAILS ABOUT COMPLAINT HERE : copy/paste from the first Confirmatory application
"1. In relation to your argument below:
“According to Article 162 paragraph 1 of the Financial Regulation (Regulation No 966/2012), the Court’s audit observations, submitted to the auditee concerned “must remain confidential”. Only those
observations that the Court has decided to include in its final report may be disclosed to the public”, I request access to observations and preliminary findings related to these 2 Reports by Court of Auditors for 2009 and 2010, which have Observations
included in the final reporthttp://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
For 2011 Report I request access to a piece of information, namely if the Court audited this Contracts
http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files...
concluded by FRA with Danish Institute for Human Rights. If yes, I request access to the documents used in the preparation of any existing observations.
In this respect, see Article 4, paragraph 2 of the Court of Auditor's Decision (No 12 /2005) on public access to Court Documents which states, with reference to the FR, that the Court shall refuse access to its audit observations but may grant access to documents used in the preparation of those observations (may
refuse but also or may grant).
I invoke the same jurisprudence as the one invoked herehttp://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
and below:
“In accordance to p. 165 of Judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal of 2 May 2007 in Case F-23/05: “it has to be recognized that a culture of accountability has grown up within the Community institutions, responding in particular to the concern of the public
to be informed and assured that malfunctions and frauds are identified and, as appropriate, duly eliminated and punished. The consequence of that requirement is that officials and other
servants who hold posts of responsibility within an administration such as the Commission must take into account the possible existence of a justified need to communicate a degree of information to the public”.
Relying on this jurisprudence and on the precedence created by EDPS, which granted access to documents following a confirmatory application (see above the link to EDPS approval) I request a review of your decision and request access to the observations CoA
used in respect of Audit for 2011 at FRA and European Commission.
I also rely on the fact that the FRA and EC` Contractor (DIHR/IMR) is suspect of fraud
http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h...
as can be seen in several postings in this website and therefore the jurisprudence mentioned above is fully and dully justified to be applied (right of public to know how public money are used).
I also remind you about my request to access the Audit Report on FRA procurement procedure for "Provision of legal services to FRA
staff".
In light of the above, I request a review of your decision and approval of my requests to access the requested documents."
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/audit...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
Dear Mr Nicholson,
We hereby acknowledge the receipt of your request for consideration, which
you submitted to the ECA by email of 9 July 2013.
Please be informed that due to the vacation period the initial deadline of
15 working days must be exceptionnally extended by another 15 working days
pursuant to Article 8(3) of Decision 12-2005 of the Court of Auditors
regarding public access to Court documents.
You will receive a reply by the end of the business day on 21 August 2013.
Kind regards,
ECA Info
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date: 25/07/2013 06:46
Subject: Internal review of access to information request - Audit
Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with
Danish Institute for Human Rights
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #564 email]
This message and all replies from European Court of Auditors will be
published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see our
dedicated page for EU public officials at
[5]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**********************
Disclaimer: If you have received this message in error, please contact the
sender immediately.
**********************
Avertissement : Si ce message vous a été adressé par erreur, nous vous
prions de vous mettre immédiatement en rapport avec l’expéditeur.
References
Visible links
1. http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d..
2. http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files..
3. http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h..
4. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/audit...
5. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
Dear Mr Nicholson,
Further to your request of access to information, would it be possible to
receive your postal address, so that we can send the President's reply to
you by surface mail, please?
Many thanks in advance.
sincerely yours,
ECA-Info
From: David Nicholson <[FOI #564 email]>
To: information requests at European Court of Auditors
<[European Court of Auditors request email]>
Date: 09/07/2013 10:55
Subject: Internal review of access to information request - Audit
Reports on Contracts concluded by European Commission and FRA Vienna with
Danish Institute for Human Rights
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
[6]http://www.asktheeu.org/request/audit_re...
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #564 email]
This message and all replies from European Court of Auditors will
be published on the AsktheEU.org website. For more information see
our dedicated page for EU public officials at
[7]http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
-------------------------------------------------------------------
**********************
Disclaimer: If you have received this message in error, please contact the
sender immediately.
**********************
Avertissement : Si ce message vous a été adressé par erreur, nous vous
prions de vous mettre immédiatement en rapport avec l’expéditeur.
References
Visible links
1. http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
2. http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/d...
3. http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files...
4. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/reque...
5. http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h...
6. http://www.asktheeu.org/request/audit_re...
7. http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/officers
Dear European Court of Auditors,
The policy of this website we use is inserted here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/privacy and here
“If a public authority asks you for your full, physical address (postal address), reply to them saying that you would prefer to receive information in electronic form. This is your right under Regulation 1049/2001 if the information exists in that format”.
In line with this policy and Regulation 1049/2001 I would prefer electronic format if available. Nevertheless, if Court of Auditors does not have the documents I requested access in electronic format please use the postal address of Organization Access Info Europa Access.(under contact us) .
Upon receipt of Court of Auditors documents the organization take care about uploading of those documents in the website as here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/olaf_...
or as mentioned here http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/privacy#... and here-
"When the information arrives, let us know and you can upload it to the website. If you can scan the document we'll give you an email address to use for that purpose."
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
[European Court of Auditors request email]
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection:
host smtp1.eca.europa.eu [195.46.249.232]: 554-smtp1.eca.europa.eu
554 Your access to this mail system has been rejected due to the sending MTA's poor reputation. If you believe that this failure is in error, please contact the intended recipient via alternate means.
Dear European Court of Auditors,
There was an error message in my reply. Please see the website.
I re-submit the text again
"The policy of this website we use is inserted here
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/privacy and here
“If a public authority asks you for your full, physical address
(postal address), reply to them saying that you would prefer to
receive information in electronic form. This is your right under
Regulation 1049/2001 if the information exists in that format”.
In line with this policy and Regulation 1049/2001 I would prefer
electronic format if available. Nevertheless, if Court of Auditors
does not have the documents I requested access in electronic format
please use the postal address of Organization Access Info Europa
Access.(under contact us) .
Upon receipt of Court of Auditors documents the organization take
care about uploading of those documents in the website as here
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/olaf_...
or as mentioned here
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/help/privacy#... and here-
"When the information arrives, let us know and you can upload it to
the website. If you can scan the document we'll give you an email
address to use for that purpose."
"
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:
[European Court of Auditors request email]
SMTP error from remote mail server after initial connection:
host smtp1.eca.europa.eu [195.46.249.232]: 554-smtp1.eca.europa.eu
554 Your access to this mail system has been rejected due to the sending MTA's poor reputation. If you believe that this failure is in error, please contact the intended recipient via alternate means.
Dear Mr Nicholson,
Please find enclosed a letter from Mr Vitor Caldeira, President of the
Court, concerning your request for access to the documents dated 9 July
2013.
Sincerely yours,
ECA-Info
Dear European Court of Auditors,
Thank you for your reply.
I have a couple of questions. Are the audit international rules mentioned in your letter, mandatory on precluding COA to disclose a simple piece of information: whether COA audited or not a contract concluded by FRA with DIHR. The response is very simple: yes or not. I do not believe that COA hierarchical supervisor (if such supervisor exists) will penalize such a disclosure to the public. I am a taxpayer, I pay money to the general budget of EU and EU bodies as FRA conclude contracts in apparent dubious conditions like mentioned in these links . For an easy track see only a few relevant aspects here http://cphpost.dk/news/national/foreign-... . When COA see in public domain allegations like this http://www.turtlebayandbeyond.org/2012/h... what COA does? Invokes International Audit Norms and refuse to disclose not only documents but also a simple piece of information with a simple reply – yes or not.
I would like to request a review of your decision and I kindly request to consider a partial disclosure of the documents I requested.
As you can see in the OLAF Report disclosed to the public domain, accessible at http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/453/r... at p. 43 OLAF auditors wrote that FRA employees requested personal opinion from COA and COA advised FRA to “leave things as they are”. But the things were obviously irregular and against the law and this are observable directly by every simple/ normal citizen, with no knowledge on international audit standards.
In which paragraph of the Audit rules invoked by COA in its letter of 23 august 2013 is written that this is the regular approach to be done. i.e. “leave things as they are”. See also the other findings of COA, disclosed by OLAF in its report, including abusing and misusing the Staff Regulation annexes for monetary gain, alleged nepotism in recruitments, etc. FRA received strange advice from COA, COA refuses to disclose documents, FRA feels protected by COA and continues to abuse the law. This is the sequence generated by COA refusal to disclose at least partially some documents related to FRA apparent irregular actions, detrimental to the Community budget/ EU budget.
See here the consequences of forgiveness granted by COA to FRA: http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/tende... (no tender procedure for awarding contracts, not even a contract to award purchase order…a complete apparent heaven in obvious detrimental of taxpayers, not scrutinized by COA). See also here the consequences of “secrecy of audit findings” : Danish Institute of Human Rights received millions of euro in grants http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/grant... (I see an interesting sequence of questions in that link in the request of 14 august 2013).
Finally I would like to know why for FRA the legislation is applied in so easy way, and why there are a lot of margins of discretion. For me it looks that somebody wants to protect FRA no matter how many irregularities alleged or real are put forward (and documented). See here just an example of apparent protection http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/discr... (there are representative in MB who prefers to say “we do not know”, the FRA is independent)
Having regard to all these aspects, I kindly request the President of COA – Mr Caldera – to review his decision and to release a certain amount of information to the public. I refer to information on audit performed by COA at FRA.
Yours faithfully,
David Nicholson
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David Nicholson dejó un comentario ()
On 24.07.2013 Court of Auditors asked me to launch a second confirmatory application (the first one was not addressed).
For follow up:
First confirmatory application - 9 July 2013
Second Confirmatory application - 25 July 2013
Deadline - should be counted from 9 July 2013 or at least delivery time for reply should be reduced.