WRITTEN QUESTION P-2653/03 by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission. Telekom Serbia affair: explanation by President Prodi to Europe.
Date: 2003-08-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: President of the Commission, corruption, duties of civil servants, image, political morality, public statement

C 70 E/124

Official Journal of the European Union

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20.3.2004

(cid:1) what charges have been levelled at

the three Commission officials against whom disciplinary
proceedings have been launched, what measures have been taken in their regard and whether OLAF
had informed the Paris Public Prosecutor of their names;

(cid:1) how it actually intends to help Mssrs Franchet and Byk defend their reputations and to safeguard their
rights of defence and whether, if the assessment of them sent by OLAF to the Paris Public Prosecutor
proves to be hasty and erroneous, it intends to take action against OLAF, and if so what action?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(10 November 2003)

The information provided by the Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to the
1.
French judicial authorities is an integral part of currently on-going national
investigative proceedings,
which are covered by rules of judicial secrecy. The Commission must therefore inform the Honourable
Member that it cannot legally answer his first question.

On 9 July the Commission opened disciplinary procedures against three Commission officials for
2.
alleged breaches of the Financial Regulation and of the Staff Regulations. Two of these procedures had to
be immediately suspended for the legal reason, made clear to Parliament and to the public at the time, that
pursuit of such procedures would be concurrent with an ongoing OLAF enquiry concerning the same
officials.

3.
The Commission considers that the rights of defence of the officials concerned are fully guaranteed in
all proceedings. As the Honourable Member knows, OLAF has complete independence in the conduct of
its investigations by virtue of Regulations 1073/99 (1) and 1074/99 (2).

(1) Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations

conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), OJ L 136, 31.5.1999.

(2) Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the

European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), OJ L 136, 31.5.1999.

(2004/C 70 E/126)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2653/03

by Mario Borghezio (NI) to the Commission

(28 August 2003)

Subject: Telekom Serbia affair: explanation by President Prodi to Europe

In recent months circumstances have emerged in Italy (cid:1) both in the context of the work of the
Parliamentary Committee of Enquiry into Telekom Serbia and in the course of the judicial investigation
launched by the Turin Public Prosecutor into the alleged bribes paid in this affair (cid:1) which, if they prove
objectively to be true, would involve the liability of the Italian Prime Minister at the time, Romano Prodi.

In order to safeguard the image of the Community institutions and to dispel any doubt as to the
transparency and appropriateness of his conduct, does President Prodi not intend, as in the case of Cirio-
SME, to provide a public and detailed explanation of his role in the Telekom Serbia operation, proceeds
from which enabled the Serbian dictator Milosevic and his power group to proceed with the military
operations that brought disaster to Serbia?

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(17 September 2003)

As the Honourable Member knows, the circumstances of the transaction and the steps taken in the case
are being investigated in Italy by a parliamentary committee of inquiry, which was set up by Act No 99 of
21 May 2002. When it has completed its work, the committee is to submit a report to the Italian
Parliament, in which it is barred from considering ‘foreign policy choices made by the Government’.

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The circumstances of the acquisition of the stake in Telekom Serbia are also being investigated by public
prosecutors in Turin, who are seeking to establish whether bribes were paid.

On this latter aspect, on the basis of accusations made by a person currently in prison, Mr Prodi and other
members of the Government in office at that time, which he headed, are the target of a fierce political
campaign being waged against them in Italy.

In response to these allegations Mr Prodi’s lawyers are already taking the legal steps necessary to protect
his good name and to ensure that those who have been throwing mud are brought to account for their
actions.

The Italian Parliament’s committee of inquiry and the prosecutors in Turin are well aware of what they
have to do to establish the truth, and Mr Prodi is fully confident that that will be enough to put an end to
this shameful slander.

Turning to the second part of the question, Mr Prodi is fully conscious of the duties and responsibilities of
those who hold public office; he said some time ago, and in public, that he would be prepared to appear
before the bodies empowered to carry out such investigations in order to provide any clarification that
might be useful.

Mr Prodi has also explained, in public, what he will tell the parliamentary committee if and when he is
asked to appear: that the acquisition by Telecom Italia of a stake in Telekom Serbia was not brought to his
attention, either as a private citizen or in his capacity as Prime Minister, ever, by anybody, in any form,
directly or indirectly, and that there was no reason of either form or substance why it should have been.

In any event, in order to give a direct answer to the questions raised by the Honourable Member, the
President has decided to offer a detailed reconstruction of the arguments, the facts and the procedures
followed in the case by the Italian Government which he headed. The documentation was made available
to the public and the press on 9 September 2003, on the website http://europa.eu.int/comm/
commissioners/prodi. The Honourable Member will find a complete copy attached to this answer.

As he said in the analogous case rightly cited by the Honourable Member, President Prodi is convinced
that anyone who holds public office has a duty to be open in their dealings. It is a duty he has never
avoided, either in Italy, or, now, in Europe.

(2004/C 70 E/127)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-2654/03

by Anna Karamanou (PSE) to the Council

(2 September 2003)

Subject: Rape and trafficking in women in Iraq

Yanar Mohammed, President of the Organisation for the Liberation of Women in Iraq, has issued a
statement condemning the rise in violence against women seen in Iraq since coalition forces have been
deployed in the region. It is estimated that over 400 women have been kidnapped, raped, and in many
cases even sold. The perpetrators of the attacks are either gangs of people traffickers, who kidnap women
in order to ransom or sell them, or criminals who abduct women with a view to raping them. The women’s
organisation claims that the American troops are doing nothing to stamp out the problem and have
turned the streets into a ‘women-free zone’.

Will the Council exert pressure on the American Administration in order to put an immediate stop to and
avert future cases of sexual assault, ill-treatment, and trafficking in women, which blatantly violate their
human rights?