In the midst of the turmoil, the two emblematic figures of the Pirate party, Sven Clement and Marc Goergen, are staring each other down. Archive photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

In the midst of the turmoil, the two emblematic figures of the Pirate party, Sven Clement and Marc Goergen, are staring each other down. Archive photo: Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

The Office of the European Public Prosecutor is taking up the "Malt" case, a public contract won by the Pirate Party in 2016 on which there are suspicions of embezzlement. The case has taken on a new dimension.

As part of the investigation into the so-called “Malt” case, and following cooperation between the economic and financial department of the Luxembourg public prosecutor’s office and the Office of Delegated European Public Prosecutors in view of the European Union’s co-financing of the project, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has decided to take over the case. As a result, the investigation is now being conducted under the direction of the Luxembourg Deputy European Public Prosecutors.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office, based in Luxembourg, is an independent and decentralised judicial body of the European Union. Its mission is to investigate and prosecute fraud against the EU budget and other crimes against the EU’s financial interests. Because of its supranational nature, it can prosecute this type of crime without being restricted by national borders. It can request the arrest of a suspect, but this must be confirmed by the competent national authority.

After the MPs, the public prosecutor’s office

This self-referral is the logical consequence of the decision to refer the matter to the Court of Auditors, taken by the Budget Implementation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on 1 October, in order to ensure that all the rules governing the use of public money had been respected. The referral was made following the examination of a KPMG audit report commissioned by the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF). The report pointed to numerous irregularities of form--contracts concluded after the fact--and of substance--false invoices denounced by himself. In parallel with the referral to the Court of Auditors, the family affairs ministry decided to audit the National Reception Office (Office national de l’accueil, ONA).

On 23 July, the Chamber of Deputies had already decided to ask the party to provide all the supporting documents needed to trace its expenditure.

Pirate party in the hot seat

The affair, which erupted on 13 June, has crystallised tensions within the Pirate party to the point of threatening to break it up. Its two remaining MPs (MP  left the party to join the LSAP)  and Marc Goergen have accused each other of using the party for personal and financial gain while continuing to live together on the benches of the Chamber of Deputies.

“Malt” (which stands for Mobile Assisted Language Tool) is a language application developed in 2016 for the Office national de l’accueil to help integrate Syrian refugees. The ONA issued a call for tenders at the time, which was won by the Pirate party, which subcontracted the work to Clement & Weyer Consulting, a company owned by Sven Clement and , the two founders of the Luxembourg Pirate party. The total cost of the project was €207,000. In June, the ONA asked the Pirate party to reimburse €96,000 in invoices deemed inadmissible following an audit.

The party refused, with Clement rejecting any accusation of embezzlement.

This article was originally published in .

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