Brussels, 08/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has rejected demands that Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht of Belgium stand down because he will be on trial in Belgium at the end of November for suspected tax fraud.
Following news of the trial in Ghent at the end of November for suspected tax fraud, news that broke in the Belgian media early on Friday 8 November, the commissioner assured the head of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, that he had not done anything wrong and this was a private case between citizen De Gucht and the Belgian tax offices, which had no impact on his work as a commissioner, explained Commission spokesperson, Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen, when quizzed by reporters at the midday press briefing. She said that the principle of assumption of innocence had to be respected and the Commission did not want to prejudge the outcome of the case that will begin on 25 November. Ahrenkilde-Hansen rejected the idea of a parallel with former Maltese Commissioner John Dalli, who was forced to resign at the end of 2012 over a case of conflicts of interest during his time as a commissioner. She said the De Gucht case was about a time period when the former Belgian foreign minister was not a member of the European Commission.
The court case is embarrassing for the Commission less than six months ahead of the European elections. It dates back to 2005. De Gucht's attempts to reach an out-of-court settlement with the Belgian tax authorities ended in failure and the case will be decided by the Ghent court of first instance where, Belgian media say, the commissioner could be fined up to €900.000. De Gucht is accused of fraud for failing to declare capital gains of €1.2 million from the sale of shares in 2005. The politician, from the Flemish liberal party, was absolved in 2009 of suspected insider dealing for the sale of shares in the Fortis bank in 2008. De Gucht is looking to be re-appointed as a commissioner in 2014 and has hinted on several occasions that the Belgian tax investigators were “politically motivated”. (EH/transl.fl)