13/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a interview published on Wednesday by the German weekly Stren, the Austrian MEP Herbert Bosch (ESP) reproaches Commissioner Verheugen for having reacted with "great hesitation" in the case of the misappropriation of funds of which for the former Phare programme co-ordinator for Slovakia is accused. The Commission assures, on the contrary, that it acted with "speed and determination", when asking for explicit explanations as soon as its services learned that the Slovakian civil servant was fired because he was suspected of fraud, then in deciding, on 6 April, to suspend the calls for tenders and payments while awaiting details. At the end of April, the calls for tenders and payments resumed, but the European antifraud office (OLAF) charged with carrying out the investigation, still underway, into this case. The spokesperson for Commissioner Verheugen also underlines that the Slovakian civil servant in question was responsible for the programming and not the calls for tenders. According to Stern the European Commission civil servants in Brussels and Bratislava are suspected of having ignored and helped the misappropriation of funds. The Commission recalls that its delegation in Slovakia does not take part in calls for tenders, but then checks that they have been made in accordance with the rules.