Brussels, 02/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - The European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, has helped to resolve a dispute between the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and two Belgian companies involved in document access. On the basis of a request made by OLAF in 2002, the Belgian customs authorities carried out an investigation to determine whether two companies had used falsified Spanish certificates to import Latin American bananas at preferential tariffs.
In an effort to clarify the facts and possibly prepare an appeal, the companies requested access to the documents held by OLAF. OLAF, nonetheless, refused to grant access for most of the documentation. The Ombudsman proceeded to an inspection of the documents in question and proposed an amiable solution according to which he called on OLAF to reconsider its position. OLAF accepted his proposal and granted access to all the documents. (L.C.)