The European Union and the Belgium judiciary are investigating allegations that EU officials signed false invoices for cleaning contracts for some of its buildings, a Commission spokesman said on today.
Maximilian Strotmann said of a report by Belgian daily Le Soirthat Olaf, the EU anti-fraud unit, and a Belgian judge were probing EU cleaning contracts worth €60 million over four years.
Mr Strotmann told a regular news conference that the European Commission's cleaning contracts for the buildings concerned were much less than the figure quoted by the newspaper, and that the buildings had been cleaned.
The allegations came just three months after three Italians, including a European Commission official, were arrested in a separate multi-million-euro case of suspected corruption involving public tenders for EU buildings.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is "determined to crack down and protect taxpayers' money", European Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde said today.