CELEX: C2005/171/48
Language: en
Date: 2005-07-09 00:00:00
Title: Case T-169/05: Action brought on 20 April 2005 by Jean-Louis Giraudy against the Commission of the European Communities

9.7.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 171/29
            
         Action brought on 20 April 2005 by Jean-Louis Giraudy against the Commission of the European Communities
   (Case T-169/05)
   (2005/C 171/48)
   Language of the case: French
   An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 20 April 2005 by Jean-Louis Giraudy, residing in Paris, represented by Dominique Voillemot, lawyer.
   The applicant claims that the Court should:
   
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               annul the Commission's decision of 21 February 2005 inasmuch as it does not acknowledge the faults of the Press D-G and rejects his complaint;
            
         
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               declare that those faults have caused actual and quantifiable damage, and that there is a causal link between those faults and the damage;
            
         
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               declare lawful, in consequence, financial compensation for the damage suffered by the applicant and fix the compensation for the non-material damage suffered at the sum of EUR 500 000;
            
         
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               order the Commission to pay the costs.
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
   At the material time, the applicant was Head of the Commission's Office in France. As a result of allegations made against him concerning supposed irregularities adversely affecting the European Union's budget, the European Anti-Fraud Office (the OLAF) carried out an operation at the headquarters of the Commission's Office on 18 November 2002. The next day the applicant was transferred to Brussels and forbidden all contact within the Commission or without.
   The applicant also claims that a press release issued by the Commission on 21 November 2002 and widely circulated gave rise to considerable publicity unfavourable to him in the media. According to the applicant, the OLAF's report of 6 May 2003 concluded that the allegations against him were groundless.
   By this action the applicant seeks to obtain compensation for the damage caused him by those acts. In support of his action he claims that he was transferred unlawfully, without justification and in breach of the presumption of innocence. He also claims that the Commission's spokesman did not observe the confidential nature of the inquiry and made public statements liable to damage his reputation. Finally, he claims that certain allegations concerning him were made by the Director General of the Press Directorate-General, of the flimsiness of which the latter must have been aware.