Conservative Raab says the EU is in \u201cviolation of international law\u201d<\/em> for not implementing the UN convention against corruption, eight years after approving it.<\/p>\n He referenced a report from the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International, which said the EU should be \u201cmildly embarrassed\u201d<\/em> for the \u201cbaffling delay\u201d<\/em> given it had been at the forefront of the debate.<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n \u201cWe are pouring huge amounts of money into the EU, huge sums that could be spent on schools and hospitals and whatever else British elected lawmakers decide,\u201d<\/em> Raab told the Guardian.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople ask, understandably, why are you pouring it into the EU, which has got these rising reports of fraud?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The European anti-fraud office identified \u00a3685 million to be recovered in 2014, the most recent figures available, compared with \u00a3147 in 2011.<\/p>\n In 2015, there were a record 1,417 fraud allegations across the European Union, according to Raab, which he labeled \u201csystemic fraud.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Raab says the figures should raise concern given Britain\u2019s net contribution to the EU, which he said amounts to \u00a310 billion.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Transparency International later downplayed the matter, saying the EU failing to implement the first step of the UN convention – an assessment of its own anti-corruption rules and capacities – was an \u201cembarrassment rather than an issue of overwhelming significance.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The spokesperson said the NGO is not keen to be drawn into the debate over Britain\u2019s membership in the EU, insisting it is a non-political organization.<\/p>\n Raab accused Transparency International of being \u201cscared of a backlash from the establishment.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWith reports of fraud at the EU soaring to record levels, British taxpayers will view this as more than just presentational embarrassment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The European Union is failing to take steps to tackle the \u201ccorruption\u201d and \u201csystemic fraud\u201d that is rife in the bloc, Britain\u2019s pro-Brexit justice minister Dominic Raab says. Conservative Raab says the EU is in \u201cviolation of international law\u201d for not implementing the UN convention against corruption, eight years after approving it. He referenced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":245838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-245837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire","8":"category-latest-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n ![\"Bernard](\"https:\/\/img.rt.com\/files\/2016.01\/thumbnail\/56a8db68c361885e028b45bf.jpg\")
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