Brussels, 24/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Giovanni Kessler, the director general of OLAF (European Anti-Fraud Office) came in for some criticism from members of the European Parliament's budgetary control committee on Tuesday 23 April. This was due to the contents of the OLAF supervisory committee's annual report which notes violation of rights in the Dalli affair - the former commissioner for health and consumer policy who was pushed to resign from his post. The report indicates that the working relationship between Kessler and OLAF's supervisory committee is not always good.
Responsible for ensuring OLAF's independence, the supervisory committee monitors OLAF's work. The director general should not have any discretionary power on the supply of information, the supervisory committee's report states. The committee regrets having to dedicate a great deal of time and resources in order to have access to information. It notes that Kessler challenges the committee's competence for examining individual inquiries.
In the case of the Dalli affair, OLAF is criticised for using means of investigation that are not provided for in the rules - in particular, preparing for a witness of the content of a telephone conversation with an accused person and the recording this conversation. The committee is also concerned that Kessler is himself directly participating in this inquiry by questioning a witness, for example - which is therefore harmful to the principle of impartiality linked to his job.
In addition, the committee is alarmed about the thresholds determining which inquiries should be priorities. The policy for 2012 provides for not opening inquiries for cases where fraud is estimated at less than €1 million in the customs sector, €250,000 in the agricultural sector and €1 million for the European Regional Development Fund. Added to the fact that Kessler is not allowed to inform the relevant authorities when he decides not to open an inquiry, this “risks creating areas of impunity”.
If a director general prevents work from being done, it is unacceptable, and manipulations are not acceptable, said an angry Ingeborg Grässle (EPP, Germany). On reading the report, she slammed violations of human rights at national level (for example, recording telephone conversations). “There is no smoke without fire”, she said. “There are things that we must not allow to happen”, she added. Grässle has already demanded Kessler's resignation. “It's now time to act and the sooner the better”, she concluded.
Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium) has also demanded that Kessler resign. “If I read this report I have the impression that the OLAF director general does not want to work with the supervisory committee, and that he wants to nip the work of this committee in the bud”, Staes stated. “Should the OLAF director general not be questioned on the implication of his honour given the seriousness of the facts? Failing that, it's up to Commissioner Semeta to do it”, he said. The lack of legal standards and procedures in the OLAF inquiry into John Dalli cannot just be casually swept aside, he said. “What I've heard this morning seems very worrying”, said Jan Mulder (ALDE, Netherlands).
It was only the Socialists who did not join in the outrage. “The supervisory committee tends to exaggerate when it asks for information that should rightfully be given to it - hence this situation of conflict and friction in OLAF and its supervisory committee”, said Zigmantas Balcytis (S&D, Lithuania). Jens Geier (S&D, Germany) nevertheless said that these elements of tension between Kessler and the supervisory committee should be clarified.
Kessler is surprised by these reactions. “Perhaps I read a different report than you, but my reaction is very positive.” He believes that the report is encouraging and indicates progress. The difficulties in cooperation between OLAF and the supervisory committee date back to the beginning of 2012 only. Since September 2012, “we have agreed on the procedures for having access to documents. There hasn't been any problem”. As for fundamental rights, the report only indicates “gaps” and not cases of human rights violations, Kessler states. “We have been criticised, maligned and accused of falsification and violations of human rights. But there is no trace of any of that in this report”, he argues. He assures that OLAF and the supervisory committee have a good working relationship with regard to cooperation and supervision. The Parliament's budgetary control committee will return to this matter in a future meeting.
Soothing response from the European Commission. The Commission says that it wants to discuss the OLAF supervisory committee's report with the supervisory committee, the OLAF director general and the European Parliament's budgetary control committee. The Commission notes many positive points in the report on the work of OLAF and the progress made since its recent reorganisation. With regard to calls for the resignation of Kessler, the Commission recalls the independence of OLAF in carrying out inquiries. The Commission considers that nothing in the report would indicate grounds for such action.(LC/transl.fl)