Kinnock EU whistleblower 'hung out to dry'
Kinnock EU whistleblower 'hung out to dry'
By Julian Coman12:01AM BST 21 Jul 2002
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.
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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."
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