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11 Jun 2009
Marta Andreasen accountant, whistleblower, the 2003 Personality of the Year for Accountancy Age readers and general all-round pain in the neck for the EU has won out in the European elections to become an MEP representing Britain for the UK Independence Party.
What’s happened?
What do whistleblowers do when they run out of job options? They run for election to the European Parliament. Paul van Buitenen did it and in last weekend’s elections Andresean managed the same feat having been elected in a hugely successful poll for the UK Independence Party.
Most people will remember Andreasen for publicising poor accounting at the EU when she became the chief accountant in 2002.
What most people miss is that she had already caused a storm at the OECD, the world’s taxation watchdog, after she joined in 1998. She reported that there were serious problems with its accounting systems and was promptly suspended from work for 15 months. A report by Arthur Andersen later concluded the systems were inadequate and outdated.
In 2002 she was hired as chief accountant at the EU. She was so shocked by what she found she went public. She claimed it was antiquated and open to fraud. She refused to sign off on the 2001 accounts.
EU commissioners were apoplectic and claimed the problems were in the process of being fixed. Andreasen was again suspended, this time for failing to show sufficient respect and loyalty to her employer.
Her revelations caused a media furore across Europe and Accountancy Age readers rewarded her with their Personality of the Year award for 2003.
But whistleblowers have trouble finding a role after they’ve done the deed. Andreasen went to a tribunal over her treatment but her sacking was upheld.
Enter UKIP. Why Andreasen chose to throw in her lot in with a party campaigning for the UK’s withdrawal from the Europe is anybody’s guess: perhaps her run-in with the EU convinced her it should be dismantled piece by piece.
In the introduction to her recent book, Brussels Laid Bare, she writes: ‘Possibly no other case than mine has shown better how easily a bureaucracy without any kind of external constitutional mechanism to correct or qualify its procedures can become a tyranny.’
There remains much respect for her, even in non-political quarters. She received sturdy support from certain regulators and fraud specialists in the UK.
What’s next?
Andreasen will take her seat and will no doubt spend her time railing against inefficiency in the EU and its poor financial controls.
Even if you question UKIP’s overall aims you can’t help but agree that the EU needs someone whose life purpose is to question the way it manages tax payers’ money.
Will she be a successful politician? A recent appearance on BBC’s Question Time revealed she was not the most seasoned of political animals, making a couple of statements that could be considered naively excessive. But she will learn.
The truth is she is at her best when talking about financial management, accountability and transparency and there will be no end of opportunities for that at the EU.
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Visitor comments Add your comment
Why Marta joined UKIP
I know that Marta is on holiday right now, and unavailable to comment, but having been involved in her appointment as UKIP's treasurer, I can provide a partial answer to your question in her absence.
I first met Marta at your annual jamboree in Battersea Park in 2004, which was roughly the same time that I joined UKIP. We kept in touch and, as a result, I was able to help her earn a few bob by addressing two gatherings of accountants in Britain in 2006.
A year later UKIP were looking for a new treasurer and one of the party's hierarchy, who knew that I knew her, asked me if I would ask her if she would be interested in the post. She was indeed interested; she passed the interview and was duly appointed.
It may interest your readers to know that, when Marta's chosen publishers withdrew from publishing "Brussels Laid Bare" in February this year, I offered to do this for her through my company St Edwards Press Ltd.
Your readers will be pleased to know that she values enormously the fact that they voted her Accountancy Age personality of the year in 2003 - this support was incredibly helpful to her when all the rest of those around her were baying for her blood - and, furthermore, the fact that it has been British Accountants, particularly in the form of people like Andrew Hamilton, Martin Gwynne and Chris Dickson, who have given her such undinting support over the past three years, should make your readers justifiably proud. After all it is our home profession who have stood up for financial propriety and truth, when so many others, who should have known better, turned their back on and betrayed this very brave lady and what she stands for.
I imagine your readers will join me in hoping that you will report regularly on how she gets on as an MEP?
Posted by: Hugh Williams, 11 Jun 2009 | 00:00
Marta Andreasen
When Hugh Williams told me about Marta and her experience as Chief Accountant of the EC, I wondered how we could help. Clearly, her shabby treatment by powerful officials within the EC high hiedians had severely shaken her confidence - in herself and in others. Enter Hugh Williams into her life . A better and more incorruptible friend to have on your side, you could not wish to have. Hugh set about the task of rejuvenating Marta's career. Together, he and I arranged for her to give a series of lectures about her single handed attempt to halt the accounting irregularities which have become "institutional" and which in turn have resulted in the European Court of Auditors disowning the EC's accounts for the last 14 years. One of the people we introduced Marta to was Lord ( Malcolm) Pearson - a man who has made a career out of adopting "unpopular" causes.At the time, Malcolm, a committed Euro-sceptic , had still not crossed the floor in the House of Lords, but on meeting Marta, such was the impression she left upon him and so outraged was he about her treatment by the EC culminating in her sacking by a fellow peer ( Lord Kinncok) that he left the Conservative party to join the United Kingdom Independence party. Malcom introduced her to Nigel Farage who had the inspiration and nouse to ask her to become Treasure of UKIP - from there to standing as a UKP candidate and then her stunning election to the European parliament and a return - very shortly - to Brussels, the place of her public humilation - what a story! I am proud to know Marta and proud with Hugh Williams to have palyed a small part in rejuvenating Marta's career; and all of us as members of the Accountancy profession should be proud that this moraly courageous woman is one of us - God Bless you Marta and good luck!
Posted by: Andrew Hamilton, 14 Jun 2009 | 00:00
Brussels Laid Bare
Having just finished reading Marta Andreasen's book entitled "Brussels Laid Bare", I can be counted among her firm supporters. She is a brave woman and I wish her all the luck in the world as MEP for the UK South East Region. As a fellow Chartered Accountant and alumni from Price Waterhouse, I can only admire her dogged determination in standing up to the faceless bureaucrats of the EU.
Posted by: Michael Julien FCA, FCT, 07 Jul 2009 | 00:00