Accounting system branded unreliable

THE EU Commission's accounting system, which controls €80bn per year spending, was yesterday branded as insecure and unreliable.

The allegations by a former senior accountant at the Brussels executive come as an embarrassment to the EU and the Irish Government as they prepare for a second referendum on the Treaty of Nice in mid October.

Former Commission accountant Ms Marta Andreason yesterday repeated fears about the EU's own audit service and the efficiency of a computer accounting system the so called 'Sincom 2' installed in 1999.

A special EU auditors' internal report in February concluded that the system did not uphold the basic principles of double entry accounting.

Ms Andreason, who was specifically hired in January to improve accounting methods, was suspended from her job in May by the Commissioner for Administrator, Neil Kinnock.

A British Conservative MEP, Chris Heaton Harris, yesterday told a special press conference in London that Ms Andreason had been shabbily treated for work which would have merited promotion in another organisation.

But a spokesman at the EU Commission in Brussels last night rejected the allegations and issued a four page document rebutting each charge in some detail.

The policy guiding Commission acknowledged there were problems with the accounting system which were now being addressed.

The EU Commission said Ms Andreason had been suspended for making unsubstantiated allegations against senior colleagues within the service. They said her proposal to correct matters, which was to install a new German designed computer accounts system, would not have provided instant solutions but would have cost European taxpayers some 30m in extra technology and training for 350 accounts personnel.

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, who is advocating a second No to Nice vote in October, last night said the complex dispute raised questions about Irish people's tendency to have blind faith in the EU administration. "These issues will become more important as the EU grows in size and complexity.

"We should not accept EU assurances at face value because it is quite possible that behind the scenes they are applying lower standards than those which obtain in Ireland," Mr Sargent said.