Brussels, 10/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Monday Commissioner Kinnock addressed the European Parliament Budgetary Control Committee, chaired by German Christian Democrat, Diemut Theato. He examined reforms of the system for the notification of accounting errors, fraud and other dysfunctions. In reply to a number of MEPs, Mr Kinnock pointed out that all officials were obliged to alert their supervisors or OLAF if they discovered any irregularities or fraud and that the Commission had done everything it could to guarantee the effectiveness of the system of alarm or "whistle blowing", which would contribute to greater protection of EU financial interests. Mr Kinnock also spoke about the measures taken to protect officials who blew the whistle or who brought proof of irregularities, as well as measures that would protect the reputation (or obtain compensation) for officials who were falsely accused (notably by way of Article 24 on the status of officials guaranteeing the support of the institution). Mr Kinnock insisted that confidentiality was needed, which was also necessary for safeguarding the right to a fair hearing. He was of the opinion that all the conditions were in place, given that the person who discovered a case of fraud or an irregularity could go directly to their superiors or OLAF and if they did not have confidence in this procedure or held doubts about the follow-up to the affair, could also go to the President of another institution or to the European Ombudsman.
Questioned by British Conservative, Chris Heaton-Harris on the case of Martha Andreasen, who is now the subject of a disciplinary procedure, Commissioner Kinnock declared that in order to respect the rights of the person who had been incriminated, it was impossible to mention certain details and it was therefore impossible to refute the allegations of the MEP, who had accused the Commission of having wanted to conceal the permeability of the system to fraud. Ms Andreasen had been treated in compliance with the statute books, when an official has breached the rules, explained Mr Kinnock, in referring to one of Ms Andreasen's declarations, which the Commissioner described as a, "distortion of the facts". He asked the MEP whether he thought there was any other democracy in the world where an institution would allow anything to be said about it without reacting. Mr Kinnock also stressed that the declarations made by Ms Andreasen focused essentially on political disagreements and pointed out that she had been given the possibility of making them from within the institution and that all officials were allowed to mention their reservations, which they judged necessary when signing a document. As for the substance of Ms Andreasen's declarations at the end of May, Mr Kinnock pointed out that they had already been revealed by the Court of Auditors and acknowledged by the Commission and which had led it to take immediate and necessary measures to modify the computerised accountancy system. The Commission reacted sharply to the comparison made by Mr Heaton-Harris with the Commission and the affairs of Enron/Worldcom, describing the comparison to be crassly ignorant of the European institutions and affairs and stemming from a conspiracy to hide information and escape justice. Responding to another attack concerning the use of unusual procedures (notification of the decision of 23 May relieving the DG Budget Director of her functions by airport employees), he explained that the notification had been necessary and, "that hundreds of thousands of people received faxes in airports every day."
Mr Kinnock added that he regretted that Martha Andreasen had possibly been put out by this.
On the subject of recruiting external officials, the Commissioner outlined that the Commission in the future intended to ask for "written references" and put into place a "nine month probationary period", to check whether the person could adequately carry out the functions demanded of them.