European Parliament Question on false accounting at Danish Institute for Human Rights

Représentation permanente du Danemark auprès de l'UE a répondu en disant que votre demande a eté transférée à une autre institution publique.

Dear Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU,

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:

In 1st March 2012 Mr Morten Messerschmidt, a member of European Parliament submitted a Parliamentary Question to Mrs Viviane Reding on the False Accounting at Danish Institute of Human Rights. This question is stored at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getD...
and reads :

“To what extent does the Commission monitor the money at the disposal of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights? This EU agency is headed, as the Commission will be aware, by its Danish director Morten Kjærum. Rigsrevisionen (the National Audit Office
of Denmark) has now revealed that there was a widespread incidence of false accounting while Mr Kjærum was head of the Danish Institute for Human Rights between 2002 and 2008, and that public funds were used, with Mr Kjærum’s knowledge, contrary to applicable
law and their intended use. Bearing in mind that the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has a much larger budget than the Danish body, the circumstances uncovered in relation to Mr Kjærum’s period in charge of the Danish Institute for Human Rights should give rise to a comprehensive audit of the use of resources at the
EU agency, inter alia to see whether the unlawful use of public funds has continued at EU level”

1. I would appreciate if you could grant me access to any relevant document or information showing the state of play of that false accounting, how it was addressed at national level by Danish Authorities.

2. I also request access to the written statement submitted to Denmark EU Delegation or to Denmark authorities by Mr Morten Kjærum, in his quality as current Director of Fundamental Rights Agency Vienna, Austria (FRA) and ex-director of DIHR, following MEP`s question of 1st March 2012 or in any other circumstances (i.e. explanations to audit bodies of Denmark).

3. Audit Reports by relevant Danish authorities ref Irregularities mentioned here http://um.dk/en/~/media/UM/English-site/... .
4. Internet link to the Financial Documents of DIHR (e.g. Balance sheet and Profit and loss accounts of DIHR)

DIHR is currently a contractor of FRA and of European Commission. The list of these contracts is published in Official Journal of EU and many of them are available in this website. This is why I request access to any relevant documents or information you might have: to understand if before the awarding of these contracts to DIHR, the false accounting matters was solved by Danish Authorities and thus there were legal conditions created for DIHR to apply for and win grants and contracts at FRA and European Commission. The EC and FRA contracts are available here
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/548/r...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/731/r...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/742/r...
and also in FTS system of EC.

Other reason of asking access to these documents and information is because the Danish Ministry had cut off funding to DIHR because of “the deliberate transfer of old losses to non-existing projects that were created for this purpose”
http://cphpost.dk/news/national/foreign-....

As you might be aware, in order to be awarded grants or contracts DIHR have to pass some
legal requirements envisaged in EU financial rules. As can be observed looking into the dates of contracts, and Danish authorities statements, DIHR was awarded contracts and grants around the date Danish Ministry cut off DIHR funding.
I would like to understand if the current director of DIHR was aware about the parliamentary question by Mr Morten Messerschmidt, by false accounting at DIHR, by bad management of External grants awarded to DIHR, including by EC.

In the frame of a grant competition organized by EC in 2012 DIHR declared that everything is in order in its activity as you can see in this Declaration on honor
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/703/r...
and in some others disclosed by EC to the public domain and accessible at http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/decla...

It would be very appreciated any access you could grant to any document or useful information and it will contribute to the clarification of false accounting matters raised in Parliamentary Question of 1st March 2012.
Also it will clarify the entitlement of legal entities with such problems as false accounting and not satisfactory or not fully satisfactory management of external EC funds, to access EU
funds and to win grants and contract amounted to millions of euro.
In order to get clarified on the details of my request, please find it under some more relevant links:
http://um.dk/en/~/media/UM/English-site/...

http://um.dk/en/~/media/UM/English-site/...
http://cphpost.dk/news/international/aid...
http://www.asktheeu.org/en/request/563/r... There are more such links in www.asktheeu.org
Thank you very much in advance for your response.

Yours faithfully,

Mike Stabenow

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Sent request to Représentation permanente du Danemark auprès de l'UE again, using a new contact address.

Anne Schouw,

Dear Mike Stabenow

Thank you for your request of access to documentation on the issue of accounting in the Danish National Human Rights Institute.

You refer to the EU Regulation 1049/2001 which regulates EU citizens' access to documents from the EU institutions. However, the documents that you ask for, all come from the Danish authorities and they do not fall under this regulation. Your request will therefore be handled in compliance with the Danish Law on Access to Information, by which you are granted access to all relevant documents within the restrictions stipulated in the law.

As you are probably aware, the documents are in Danish and they will not be translated. Please confirm that you are still interested in pursuing this request.

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,
Anne Schouw

ANNE SCHOUW / [email address]
HEAD OF SECTION / DEPT. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
TLF. +45 3392 0333 (direct)

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ASIATISK PLADS 2 / DK-1448 KØBENHAVN K
TLF. +45 3392 0000 / www.UM.DK

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Dear Ms Anne Schouw,

Thank you for your response.
I am interested to access DIHR financial documents which were provided to European Commission(EC) and Fundamental Rights Agency Vienna (FRA) in the frame of several calls for tender and calls for proposal. As you might know DIHR was awarded several procurement contracts and grants at EC and FRA and according to EU legislation, DIHR has an obligation to provide certain financial documents. These documents once provided to EC and FRA became property of these institutions. I would like to access those documents via EU institutions (i.e. EC and FRA). I launched such request. In line with EU law, EU institutions should contact DIHR for the agreement to disclose those financial documents to third parties.
I anyway thank you for your kind intention to grant me access to DIHR documents in Danish language via&under your national law. As I stressed above, I would prefer to access the relevant documents and information via EU Channel - Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Stabenow

Anne Schouw,

Dear Mike Stabenow

Thank for this clarification of your request. If I understand your question correctly, you would like to have access to the documentation provided by the Danish Institute for Human Rights to the Commission and the Fundamental Rights Agency in connection with the applications for grants.

There seems to be a misunderstanding. The Danish Government does not have any information about the contact between the Danish Institute for Human Rights and any third parties. This means that we cannot help you with information about the correspondence between the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the EU Commission and the Fundamental Rights Agency.

I think you have used the internet portal "Ask the EU" for this contact, but you have been put in touch with the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, not the EU Commission.

I suggest that you either use the portal against but with the clear indication that it is the EU Commission you want to approach, or that you contact the EU-commission directly. If you have any question, please contact me on the telephone number included below.

Kind regards,
Anne Schouw

ANNE SCHOUW / [email address]
HEAD OF SECTION / DEPT. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
TLF. +45 3392 0333 (direct)

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
ASIATISK PLADS 2 / DK-1448 KØBENHAVN K
TLF. +45 3392 0000 / www.UM.DK

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: Mike Stabenow [mailto:[FOI #838 email]]
Sendt: 29. september 2013 17:08
Til: Anne Schouw
Emne: Re: VS: Anne/Jakob opf: Anmodning om aktindsigt: "European Parliament Question on false accounting at Danish Institute for Human Rights"

Dear Ms Anne Schouw,

Thank you for your response.
I am interested to access DIHR financial documents which were provided to European Commission(EC) and Fundamental Rights Agency Vienna (FRA) in the frame of several calls for tender and calls for proposal. As you might know DIHR was awarded several procurement contracts and grants at EC and FRA and according to EU legislation, DIHR has an obligation to provide certain financial documents. These documents once provided to EC and FRA became property of these institutions. I would like to access those documents via EU institutions (i.e. EC and FRA). I launched such request. In line with EU law, EU institutions should contact DIHR for the agreement to disclose those financial documents to third parties.
I anyway thank you for your kind intention to grant me access to DIHR documents in Danish language via&under your national law. As I stressed above, I would prefer to access the relevant documents and information via EU Channel - Regulation 1049/2001.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Stabenow

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