From: The Standard. Karel Pinxten (69), ex-politician of the Open VLD, loses two thirds of his pension rights. This was decided by the European Court of Justice on Thursday morning. According to the Court, it has been proven that Pinxten, as a member of the European Court of Auditors, enriched himself between 2006 and 2018 at the expense of his employer.
In its decision, the court followed the demand of Irish Solicitor General Gerard Hogan in December last year. An investigation by the European anti-fraud service Olaf had shown that Pinxten, among other things, had private trips to Cuba and Crans-Montana in Switzerland, but also hunting parties in Ciergnon in the Ardennes and Chambord in the Loire region paid for by his employer the European Court of Auditors .
He is also accused of fraud with fuel cards, as is a long list of dinners paid for by Europe with political and personal friends. At the end of his investigation in 2018, Olaf estimated the financial loss that Pinxten would have caused to his employer at 570,000 euros. The Court of Audit itself reduced that amount to 160,000 euros in its claim to the European Court.