Brussels, 21/04/2011 (Agence Europe) - An alleged case of corruption at the European Commission involving a former Dutch official and a lobbyist who worked for a French agricultural organisation will soon be examined in Brussels. This announcement was made on Wednesday 20 April by a Belgian legal source quoted by AFP, which confirmed information previously released on this case by the France Inter radio station.
The affair began more than 10 years ago. According to French national radio, a Belgian investigating court, the Brussels Judges' Council Chamber, sent a case involving 12 individuals and three companies involved in the affair to the criminal court on 11 January 2011.
According to the investigation that was opened in 2001 by the investigating Brussels magistrate, Jean-Claude Van Espen, a civil servant employed at DG Agriculture, Karel Brus from the Netherlands, is accused of supplying confidential information on the common agricultural policy (CAP).
The Commission official has since left his post but is said to have previously received a significant number of gifts such as “several nights in Paris hotels… numerous meals and dinners in restaurants and hostess bars”. He is also said to have received €2,250 in cash, according to a report from the Belgian Federal Prosecutor's Office, quoted by French radio. Jean-Jacques Vies also will also have to appear at the Criminal Court. From 1987 he began working in Brussels for the 'Syndicat national pour l'expansion de la coopération agricole' (Syncopex). Sensitive information that he received involved fluctuation on the agricultural markets, which allowed French exporters to win market share, explained Vies. (L.C./transl.fl)