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| Europe |
| Europe’s anti-fraud office accused of abusing its power |
| 2004-07-08 |
| EU anti-fraud office’s Kafkaesque persecution of anti-fraud whistle-blower ordered from the top. Leaked documents on the arrest of a fraud-busting journalist have intensified fears that the European Union is abusing its growing investigative powers to manipulate evidence and silence criticism. Hans-Martin Tillack, the Brussels correspondent for Germany’s Stern magazine, was held by Belgian police for 10 hours without access to a lawyer at the behest of the EU’s anti-fraud office, Olaf. Tillack was accused of bribing an unknown EU official with up to 8,000 euros (£5,400) in return for secret files, an allegation he denies. The police seized his computers, address books, telephone records and documents that exposed his sources inside the EU machinery. Olaf denies orchestrating the raids, claiming that it merely passed on suspicions to the police, and maintains that it acted correctly at all times. But internal documents obtained by The Telegraph confirm that Olaf requested urgent "simultaneous searches" by the Belgian and German police. The "Tillack affair" has become a test case of whether the EU can be trusted to handle its investigative and embryonic police powers. Raymond Kendall, the former head of Interpol who heads Olaf’s watchdog body, has accused the agency of pursuing a vendetta. Addressing a recent House of Lords committee, he said the body was not subject to day-to-day judicial oversight. "Olaf can do whatever they want to do," he told peers. "There is absolutely no control whatsoever." The full leaked dossier, entitled "Special Case No 3", reveals that what Olaf termed its "reliable source" against Tillack was Joachim Gross, then spokesman for the budget commissioner Michaele Schreyer, who is ultimately in charge of Olaf. Mrs Schreyer denies playing any role in the affair. In the leaked files, her spokesman says his tip-off came from a senior Stern news editor, Wilfried Krause. When contacted by The Telegraph, Krause said: "No such conversation ever took place." Mr Gross insisted that the conversation did occur, but declined to comment further. Olaf’s request for urgency was supported by a claim that Tillack was about to leave for Washington where his files would be beyond the EU’s reach. In fact, Stern does not have a Washington bureau and Olaf had been told he was returning to Germany. Stern, which is now pursuing legal action at the European Court and a defamation suit in Germany, suspects Olaf of launching a fishing expedition to identify sources who have helped Tillack on reports alleging incompetence and cover-ups. Mr Kendall told the Lords that Olaf had acted improperly "purely on the basis of hearsay". There had "obviously" been prior collusion with the Belgian criminal authorities. "Any normal person would have to say that Olaf was trying to get back at this man," he said. Nobody, he said, was safe from Olaf’s reach, even if the body had to work through national police forces. "If they decided that you, my Lord, were a suspect, they would have the power to come into your office." Mr Kendall said there was no judicial redress if Olaf abused its powers since the European Court invariably backed the agency. "Olaf’s director-general has more powers than any law enforcement chief in the world that I know of," he told The Daily Telegraph. Mr Kendall said the commission alone had the power to discipline Olaf’s chief. But the commission has refused to get involved. The European Parliament has been silent, except for a comment by Herbert Bosch, an Austrian Socialist MEP and the all-party spokesman on Olaf, that the actions against Tillack were "totally unacceptable". The EU continues to acquire a plethora of judicial, prosecution and intelligence bodies. It is creating a justice department - Eurojust - and a counter-intelligence "tsar Brussels" on top of the Europol agency that handles cross-border crime. The EU constitution paves the way for a European public prosecutor and will enable Eurojust to launch inquiries in Britain into a variety of crimes. |
| Posted by:Bulldog |
#3 Europe’s anti-fraud office accused of abusing its powerQuelle surprise. I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you! (not) |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2004-07-08 5:01:50 PM |
| #2 Looks like it might be time for an Anti-Fraud Fraud Anti-Fraud Fraud office. It'd at least give more Eurohacks jobs. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-07-08 4:19:20 PM |
| #1 Fraud? In the EU? Impossible! |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-07-08 8:30:54 AM |