Brussels, 22/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - An OLAF spokesperson said on Friday that the allegations of misconduct by European Commission officials in Paul van Buitenen's report and suspicions of official corruption could lead to the operational paralysis of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) to the benefit of the criminal organisations its job is to combat. The spokesperson told EUROPE that he felt it was unacceptable for confidential OLAF information to be leaked to journalists and that such information had been obtained by corrupting a civil servant (see EUROPE of 29 March, p.10 for the details of the opening of an official enquiry). He added that opening an enquiry meant that one had suspicions or information that had to be verified, given its importance. Despite OLAF's great respect for press freedom and its job of publicly monitoring the activity of the institutions, if this information is bought, any service the journalist might claim to want to provide for citizens will have been totally cancelled by the attempt to undermine the integrity of the public administration. He added that the speculation in the media and attempts to undermine OLAF could damage its work (of carrying out sensitive internal and external investigations, see EUROPE of 2 March, p.14).