The new Supervisory Committee for the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is taking office today. This board is composed of five independent persons from outside of the European Institutions. Its task is to reinforce OLAF’s independence by regular monitoring of the implementation of the investigative function.

The five members appointed by common accord of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission for a three year term are:

Mr Kálmán Györgyi, Commissioner for the Codification of the new Hungarian Criminal Code at the Ministry of Justice. 1990-2000 Prosecutor General of the Republic of Hungary. Former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.

Mr Luis López-Sanz Aranguez, Public Prosecutor at the Supreme Court of Spain. 1995-2002 Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor at the Special Public Prosecution Office for the repression of Economic Crimes related to Corruption.

Mr Peter Strömberg, Director and Head of the Supervisory Board of Public Accountants. Responsible for the public supervision of public accountants in Sweden. 1997-2003 Director and Deputy head of the Division for police and prosecution on international issues, Director General for International Affairs in the Ministry of Justice.

Mrs Diemut R. Theato, 1994-2004 Chairwoman of the Committee on Budgetary Control of the European Parliament as member of the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) of Germany.

Mrs Rosalind Wright, Chairwoman of the Fraud Advisory Panel of England and Wales. 1997-2003 Director of the Serious Fraud Office of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The new Supervisory Committee will be received in Brussels by Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas and by OLAF Director General Franz-Hermann Brüner on 14 December.

Ref: IP/05/1507