Nearly one lost euro in three was misspent because of 'serious failures to respect public procurement rules', the auditors said.

The auditors found that the secretariat waived procurement rules at least 50 times over three years.

She has been accused of circumventing procurement rules when she awarded a lucrative contract to a company run by a friend, something her lawyers insisted was fully justified.

The company said it always adhered strictly to procurement rules and would not condone any activity that breached them.

In those cases, the agency promulgates its own specific procurement rules.