17 EUROJUST ANNUAL REPORT 2006
(28478)
7550/07
—
| Eurojust annual report 2006
|
| Legal base | —
|
| Department | Home Office
|
| Basis of consideration |
EM of 5 April 2007 |
| Previous Committee Report |
None |
| To be discussed in Council
| No date set |
| Committee's assessment | Legally and politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
17.1 Eurojust is a European Union body, established by Council
Decision 2002/187/JHA[43]
to support investigations and prosecutions by Member States of
serious cross-border or transnational crime. The objectives of
Eurojust are to improve coordination between competent authorities
in the Member States in relation to investigations and prosecutions,
to facilitate the execution of requests for international mutual
legal assistance and for extradition, and otherwise to provide
support so as to render more effective investigations and prosecutions
involving two or more Member States.
17.2 The type of crime with which Eurojust may be
involved is defined in Article 4 of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA
and includes crimes falling within the competence of Europol together
with computer crime, fraud and corruption and any criminal offence
affecting the European Community's financial interests, laundering
of the proceeds of crime, "environmental crime", and
participation in a criminal organisation. Eurojust may also assist
in investigations and prosecutions of other crimes at the request
of a competent authority of a Member State.
17.3 The President of Eurojust is required by Article
32 of Council Decision 2002/187/JHA to report on its activities
and management to the Council. The present report is the fifth.
The previous Committee has considered reports for 2002 and 2003
finding them to provide a valuable insight into the practicalities
of ensuring cooperation between the Member States in the administration
of justice. We reached the same view when we considered the reports
for 2004 and 2005, and were to a large extent reassured by the
explanations given by the Minister that the adoption of "guidelines"
by Eurojust for deciding which authority should prosecute in cases
where there is a positive conflict of jurisdiction did not mean
that Eurojust was assuming the role of directing national prosecuting
and investigating authorities.
The Eurojust report for 2006
17.4 The report for 2006 covers the structure and
legal environment of Eurojust, its relations with national authorities
and third states and contains a major section devoted to casework.
In the foreword to the report, the President of Eurojust notes
that the number of cases referred to Eurojust rose by 31%[44]
by comparison with the total for 2005. The President reports that
the Council Decision establishing Eurojust (Council Decision 2002/187/JHA[45]
has now been implemented in all Member States, except Greece.
17.5 In its discussion of the legal environment,
the 2006 report, like its predecessor, notes that a number of
Member States have not given effect to a number of Framework Decisions
and other instruments in the field of criminal justice, such as
the Convention of 29 May 2000 on mutual assistance in criminal
matters between the Member States and its 2001 Protocol. The report
also notes that the Framework Decision of 22 July 2003 on the
execution of orders freezing property or evidence is still not
in force.
17.6 The report discusses cooperation with Europol,
the European Judicial Network and OLAF and, as with previous reports,
contains a substantial section on casework.
17.7 The section on casework notes that there has
been a 31% increase in the number of cases referred, with fraud
and drug trafficking representing the highest percentage of criminal
activity, although there have been significant increases in the
number of terrorism and money laundering cases. The report notes
that the number of people trafficking cases referred was 30 in
2006, (compared with 33 in 2005). In at least 13 of these cases
an organised crime group was clearly identified, with most being
Albanian or Eastern European, although a Vietnamese group has
been discovered in a recent case. Most of the victims appear to
be from Eastern Europe. The countries concerned by such cases
are Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Latvia,
France, Greece and Lithuania.
17.8 72 new money laundering cases were opened in
2006. A significant money laundering operation in Malaga, involving
the proceeds of crime from various countries and re-invested in
corporate networks set up by a Spanish law firm, was dismantled
in 2006. The amount involved was over €250 million and followed
the issue of letters rogatory to Sweden, Finland, Austria, the
UK, France and the Netherlands. The report notes that the UK authorities
agreed to send a report to the Spanish judge and to stay their
proceedings and they believed the Spanish court to be in the best
position to entertain proceedings.
17.9 In its narrative discussion of casework, the
report contains a number of illustrations to show the variety
of case in which Eurojust may become involved, including VAT fraud
and smuggling, investment fraud, child pornography, terrorism,
trafficking of antiquities and drug trafficking.
17.10 The VAT fraud case involved Hungary, Slovakia,
the Netherlands and Croatia and concerned the import into Hungary
of 5,000 tons of sugar on which VAT was never paid. The child
pornography case involved information sent by Interpol to a Member
State for further investigation where it appeared that there were
more victims and more Member States concerned, which led to a
coordination meeting being held by Eurojust. One of the terrorism
cases concerned a group of Algerians linked to the 'Salafist group
for Teaching and Combat' who had carried out a series of thefts
in Switzerland and the Costa del Sol, and had planned to attack
an aircraft owned by EL Al in Switzerland. The case involving
the illegal trafficking of antiquities concerned separate investigations
in Greece and Italy, which were subsequently coordinated and resulted
in the confiscation of numerous antiquities in Greece, the identification
of members of the gang concerned as well as the involvement of
some museums.
17.11 The report notes the rapid issue and execution
of a European Arrest Warrant (EAW)in France for the arrest of
an Austrian national (the former head of one of the largest banking
groups in that country) wanted in connection with a bank fraud
in Austria involving at least €1,400 million. With the help
of Eurojust, the EAW was sent to the French authorities at 3:00
am and an arrest was carried out later that morning. The Austrian
national was later extradited to Austria under the EAW. The last
two cases mentioned specifically in the report concerned drug
trafficking, the first involving a seizure in Italy of a container
of cocaine in a ship from Venezuela bound for Rotterdam, the second
involving a "controlled delivery"[46]of
heroin from the southern Balkans to Sweden, which led to arrests
in Sweden, after cooperation between the authorities of Serbia
and Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland,
Germany and Denmark.
17.12 The report devotes a section to relations with
third states, recording the conclusion of a cooperation agreement
with the United States, and negotiations with the Russian Federation,
Ukraine and Switzerland.
The Government's view
17.13 In her Explanatory Memorandum of 5 April 2007
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office
(Joan Ryan) welcomes the continued development and growth of Eurojust
in 2006. The Minister explains that the closer relationship with
national prosecutors and the increased capacity to organise coordinated
investigation and prosecution activities is reflected in the increased
case load.
17.14 The Minister also notes a number of significant
developments during the year, including the conclusion of a formal
cooperation agreement with the United States and the opening of
negotiations with the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and continued
negotiations with Switzerland.
Conclusion
17.15 As on previous occasions, the report provides
a helpful insight into the practicalities of judicial cooperation
within the EU and shows that the work of Eurojust has been of
real benefit. The report contains a number of graphic illustrations
of the results achieved by practical cooperation.
17.16 We draw attention to the passages in the
most recent report dealing with the failure of many Member States
to give effect to the measures they have agreed in Council. We
comment again that this calls into question the utility of launching
so many legislative initiatives at the EU level, and suggests
to us that efforts might be better spent in ensuring that existing
measures are implemented and enforced.
17.17 We now clear the document.
43 OJ No. L 63 of 6.3.02, p.1. Back
44
771 cases. Back
45
OJ No L 63 of 6.3.02. p.1. Back
46
I.e. a delivery which is kept under surveillance throughout its
journey without being stopped at borders. Back
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