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Rule of Law and democracy are under pressure. A key challenge in this regard is political corruption. If government officials embezzle State money or government jobs are obtained through paying bribes, democratic procedures and the rule of law are weakened. One of the main democratic instruments to reveal political corruption are Parliamentary Committees of Inquiry (PCIs). Characteristically, PCIs are set up by the respective Parliament to hold executive actors politically accountable. Austria is a representative example as a PCI deals currently with highly charged issues. It investigates the Ibiza affair that led to the fall of the conservative-far-right ÖVP-FPÖ government in 2019. PCIs are guardians of the public interest. The function of parliamentary control is based on the principle of democracy and belongs to the rights of the political opposition. PCIs are part of the legislative branch and an inherent part of checks and balances. By analysing PCIs at the EU level and in Austria through the lens of checks and balances in a comparative manner, an identified gap in research can be filled. The analysis aims at identifying how PCIs have to be set up in order to be an effective tool to enhance democracy and fight corruption.