EU: The European Parliament has set up a special committee to investigate the collapse of the Equitable Life pension company in Britain in 2000, in which the investments of 6,500 Irish people were greatly reduced or lost altogether.
The committee, which is expected to be chaired by the Ireland East MEP Máiréad McGuinness, will investigate any contravention of EU law and any maladministration in the application of EU law in the case.
Two other Irish MEPs, Proinsias De Rossa and Gay Mitchell, will also sit on the committee, which will look into the conduct of the company, which was unable to pay out £1.5 billion as ordered by the House of Lords in Britain to over one million European investors, mainly living in the UK, Germany and Ireland. The committee will present an interim report in four months and will also look at the role of the regulatory authorities in Britain when it issues a full report in about 12 months.
Another committee established by the parliament yesterday will investigate the transport and illegal detention of prisoners by the CIA in Europe.
Dublin MEP Eoin Ryan (FF) and Cork MEP Simon Coveney (FG) will serve on the 46-member committee.
It will be seeking to find out if the CIA or other US intelligence agencies have carried out abductions, "extraordinary rendition", detentions at secret sites, torture or inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners on EU territory or in acceding or candidate countries.