i must first say that the commission has no indications that there are more cases of fraud than in other organisations
the commission points out that the british house of lords concluded in a special report that there was no evidence of widespread corruption within the commission and that the level of fraud against the eu budget is no higher than in comparable public spending programmes including in great britain
on average olaf opens around forty internal investigations per year involving officials from all institutions
in around half of these cases it concludes there is a need for follow-up which can be administrative disciplinary judicial financial or even legislative or a combination of several of these
the commission's policy of zero tolerance and a formal obligation for officials to report serious wrongdoings without delay contributes to increased vigilance towards possible fraud or corruption
it may also lead to the opening of a significant number of investigations in which the initial suspicions ultimately prove to be groundless
as concerns the commission fifteen members of staff were subject to disciplinary measures in two thousand and seven compared to an average of five staff members between two thousand and four and two thousand and six
in two thousand and seven sanctions were imposed in seven cases for a variety of breaches including for external activities not in accordance with the dignity of the function unauthorised absences and financial irregularities
the staff rules provide a well-developed disciplinary system with possible sanctions ranging from a simple warning to downgrading and in the most serious cases dismissal with or without reduction of pension rights
in addition a member of staff may be held personally financially liable for the damage incurred by his or her serious personal misconduct
