# CE2004078EN.01048901.xml

| 27.3.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | CE 78/489 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |

27.3.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CE 78/489

---

(2004/C 78 E/0511)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3212/03

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(30 October 2003)

Subject:   British newspaper allegations regarding irregularities in connection with Commission funding

Subject:

According to the British ‘Daily Telegraph’ newspaper of 24 September 2003, Mr Neil Kinnock, Commission Vice-President, has received a letter informing him that the OLAF has uncovered irregularities concerning Community funding for Greek companies. According to the newspaper's correspondent (Mr Ambrose Evans-Prichard) the ‘letter claimed that alleged abuses at Eurostat were almost insignificant’ by comparison with those uncovered by OLAF regarding the awarding of contracts to a number of Greek companies.

Was such a letter sent to Mr Kinnock? If so, who signed it and what was its exact content? Can the Commission give a breakdown showing the precise amounts involved in these irregularities and which Greek companies (by name) were involved? What action has been taken by the Commission and what immediate measures will it take to elucidate this affair which has shed an unfairly negative light on Greece?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(23 December 2003)

(23 December 2003)

An anonymous letter addressed to an Honourable Member and containing allegations of irregularities was, quite properly, handed to the Member of the Commission in charge of Personnel and Administration, Vice-President Kinnock, by that Honourable Member on 4 September 2003.

On the same day, following the established procedure, Mr Kinnock passed the anonymous letter to Mr Brüner, Director-General of OLAF, for appropriate inquiry and follow-up and then informed the Honourable Member of the action taken. Naturally, the Commission did not communicate the existence of the letter to the press at any time.

OLAF proceeded to carry out an assessment which included — ‘inter alia’ — detailed examination of all the files mentioned in the letter.

The outcome of this assessment by OLAF is that the allegations were unfounded. The Commission considers that no reputation of an individual, or of a company, or — a fortiori — of a Member State should suffer as a result of anonymous allegations of this kind when neither the investigations by OLAF, nor the internal checks carried out by the relevant Directorate-General, have discovered any evidence to substantiate the allegation.

The results of the OLAF examination were conveyed to the Honourable Member who gave the anonymous letter to Mr Kinnock.

All information which might lead to detection of misconduct is treated seriously by the Commission and given to the appropriate investigatory authorities. Misuse of the system for reporting alleged wrongdoing does, however, waste the valuable time of investigators and can discourage those who seek to communicate legitimate concerns in a responsible way.

The Commission would, therefore, be interested in receiving any information which could assist with the discovery of the identity of the anonymous letter writer.

---