Brussels, 13/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The affair of the false invoices at the European Commission's Representation in Stockholm has seen further developments with the lifting by the Commission, at the request of the Swedish authorities, of the immunity of three officials and three local agents, as well as the lifting of the duty of discretion of 10 officials and 12 local agents. The former will now be able to be the subject of prosecutions, the latter may be called upon by the Swedish courts as witnesses. The Commission has also agreed to authorise the Swedish police to enter the its premises in Stockholm and to seize documents. Finally, the documents seized by he Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) in its own investigations will be forwarded to the Swedish authorities.
End-May Olaf had forwarded to the Commission the results of the investigation it had been conducting on the case since end-November 1999, date at which the Swedish television had reported on the accusations of false invoicing - for less than 700 euro - to the Commission Representation in Stockholm. The Commission had then decided to trigger disciplinary procedures against the three officials, and informed the three local agents that it was considering dismissing them. These procedures are still going on.