MEPs target mafia-style crime

Whistleblowers, informers and witnesses of mafia-style crime should be protected EU wide, says the European Parliament, in a set of proposals voted on this week.

The proposals include the following:

• an EU-wide definition of the crime of participating in a mafia-style organisation;
• that the Commission should put forward a legislative proposal to set up an EU whistleblowers' protection programme, which would also cover witnesses and informers;
• a common definition of organised crime that would stress the "business oriented" nature of mafias and their "power of intimidation" and include the crime of participation in a mafia-style organisation;
• bank secrecy to be eliminated, to help to deprive criminal organisations of their financial resources. Banks, insurance companies and credit institutions should cooperate by providing full information on corporate entities and owner beneficiaries. Information technology tools should also be used to improve the traceability of financial flows and hence mafia finances;
• any person convicted for serious crimes against the public interest (e.g. human trafficking, exploiting child labour or money laundering) to be excluded from any public tender procedure in the EU for at least five years; and
• anyone convicted of corruption to be barred from standing for election to any public office in the EU, again for at least five years.

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