In 2011, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

’s Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) opened a formal investigation for corruption against four

Members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

(MEPs)—

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

Adrian Severin Adrian Severin (born 28 March 1954) is a Romanian politician and former Member of the European Parliament. Adrian Severin started his political career under the Communist rule, as Instructor (''lector'') at Ștefan Gheorghiu Academy, the univer ...

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

Ernst Strasser Ernst Strasser (* 29 April 1956 in Grieskirchen, Upper Austria) is a former Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) politician and former Federal Minister of the Interior in Austria (2000–2004), Member of the European Parliament (2009–2011) and bear ...

Spaniard Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking Ethnicity, ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern Nation state, nation-state of Spain. Genetics, Genetically and Ethnolinguisti ...

Pablo Zalba Bidegain Pablo Zalba Bidegain (born 28 January 1975) is a Spanish economist and politician and has been a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), for the European People's Party, in office June 2009 to November 2016. From 2016 to 2018 he served as Presi ...

(who was cleared of wrongdoing as he had not accepted payment), and Slovenian

Zoran Thaler Zoran Thaler (born ) is a Slovenian politician and businessman. He is a former Slovenian foreign minister and a former member of the European Parliament. Political career He was born in Kranj in former Yugoslavia (now in Slovenia). He graduate ...

—after an article in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' claimed that they had tried to influence EU legislation in exchange for money. The ''Sunday Times ''journalists went undercover and approached 60 MEPs, posing as

lobbyists Lobbying is a form of advocacy, which lawfully attempts to directly influence legislators or government officials, such as regulatory agencies or judiciary. Lobbying involves direct, face-to-face contact and is carried out by various entities, in ...

and requesting votes to table or support certain amendments in exchange for money.

Indictments

Strasserand Thaler resigned in March 2011; Strasser was sentenced to four years in jail on 14 January 2013. OLAF dismissed the case against Thaler, claiming that it had been unable to find "evidence to support suspicion of wrongdoing" (though it did blame the European Parliament for "refus ngto provide the necessary support during the investigation"). However, in January 2014

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

's own

judicial system The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

found Thaler guilty and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison. Claiming innocence, Adrian Severin has refused to step down and continues to work as an MEP, even after he was expelled by the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group of the

. He was indicted by

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

anti-corruption agency An anti-corruption agency is a special police agency specialised in fighting political corruption and engaging in general anti-corruption activities. Most are founded by statute, but some have a constitutional status. List * : Oficina Anticorru ...

in September 2013 and in February 2016, he was convicted to three and half years in prison in court, although the judgement was appealed. On 16 November 2016, a final sentence was handed down and his sentence was increased to 4 years imprisonment.{{cite news, url=http://www.agerpres.ro/justitie/2016/11/16/alerta-adrian-severin-condamnat-definitiv-la-4-ani-inchisoare-cu-executare-16-35-35, title=Adrian Severin, condamnat definitiv la 4 ani închisoare cu executare, newspaper=Agerpres, date=16 November 2016, language=Romanian, access-date=16 November 2016, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116230745/http://www.agerpres.ro/justitie/2016/11/16/alerta-adrian-severin-condamnat-definitiv-la-4-ani-inchisoare-cu-executare-16-35-35, archive-date=16 November 2016, url-status=dead, df=dmy-all He still has the support of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, his political party in Romania.

References

Political scandals in Austria Corruption in Romania Lobbying in the European Union

Indictments

See also

References