Telegraph Group Limited - 21/07/2002
Julian Coman
Neil Kinnock, the European Commission vice-president and champion
of European Union reform, is to be questioned by MEPs about an
alleged cover-up of mismanagement and cronyism by the EU's statistics
body, Eurostat.
In the latest scandal to blight the commission's
bureaucracy, the Luxembourg-based Eurostat organisation is suspected
by EU anti-fraud investigators of illegitimately sub-contracting
more than £1 million worth of research work to Eurogramme,
a London-based company run by Edward Ojo, a former commission
employee.
The company was asked to research European
industrial output figures. A court case is likely before the end
of the year.
The Telegraph has learnt that Mr Kinnock
dismissed complaints about Eurostat from Dorte Schmidt-Brown,
a "whistle-blowing" employee, who has now taken sick
leave and says she feels intimidated.
The case is acutely embarrassing for the
former Labour leader, who has previously claimed to have launched
a policy of "zero tolerance" towards fraud in EU institutions.
He is due to stand down from the commission
in 2004 and hopes to return to British politics. Disclosures that
Mr Kinnock discounted warnings of alleged malpractice at Eurostat
have outraged MEPs, who have summoned him to a closed-doors inquiry.
The case came to light this month when anti-fraud
investigators handed dossiers about Eurostat - which they said
were "liable to lead to criminal proceedings" - to the
European Court in Luxembourg.
Eurogramme is still receiving contracts
from Eurostat, despite a damning report from an internal audit
committee which Mr Kinnock set up as part of his reform drive.
Mrs Schmidt-Brown, a Danish employee of
Eurostat, complained last year that Eurogramme had won contracts
under false pretences and lacked the resources to fulfil them.
She alleged that the company had subsequently
delivered work of a poor quality, half a year late.
After being ignored and transferred to a
department that had no dealings with the company, she wrote a
series of letters to Mr Kinnock, saying she was being victimised
at work for speaking out and that a "cover-up" was taking
place. Eurogramme denies her allegations.
In January, Mrs Schmidt-Brown received a
reply from Mr Kinnock saying her claims were "unfounded".
Mr Kinnock publicly committed himself to
fighting fraud after the last commission - of which he was also
a member - collapsed in 1999 after corruption allegations.
Last week, he was not available to comment
on what his spokesman said were "internal staff matters".
The spokesman said: "We found no evidence for the allegations
that Mrs Schmidt-Brown made.
He said:"OLAF [the EU anti-fraud body]
has not been in contact with us over its decision to pass the
Eurostat dossiers on to the public prosecutor in Luxembourg, so
we are not in a position to comment on that."
Mrs Schmidt-Brown, who has now returned
to Denmark on sick leave, says that since January she has suffered
intimidation and harassment from her Eurostat bosses and from
Eurogramme directors.
"She feels vindicated by the fact that
the EU's anti-fraud body has independently taken action and passed
the Eurostat dossiers over to the public prosecutor," said
an associate.
"But she feels bitter and badly let
down by Mr Kinnock. In the end, she was just hung out to dry."
The case has highlighted the risks run by
"whistle-blowers" who dare to make claims of corruption
in EU institutions. Paul van Buitenen, the Dutch official whose
evidence of fraud at the commission contributed to the downfall
of its former president Jacques Santer, was subsequently suspended
on half pay, and is now also on sick leave.
He told The Telegraph:"This doesn't
surprise me. This is how the commission does its business - by
secrecy and intimidation."
MEPs will question Mr Kinnock at a meeting
on September 9.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Conservative spokesman
for budgetary control in the European Parliament, said:"The
test of a modern administration is how you deal with problems
of fraud when they arise."
He said: "Mr Kinnock has to
decide whether the commission is going to root out fraud and irregularities
or just lift up the carpet and sweep them underneath."
