Strasbourg, 23/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros has opened an investigation into allegations about the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) having provided him with imprecise information regarding a previous enquiry. These allegations were made during a complaint made to the Ombudsman by Hans-Martin Tillack, the former Brussels correspondent for the German newspaper the Stern. According to the Tillack, information provided by OLAF was liable to "lead the Ombudsman into making a mistake and manipulate the investigation". The Ombudsman has called on OLAF to reply to the plaintiff's allegations by 30 November 2004.
The Ombudsman's former investigation involved allegations of corruption made by OLAF, which could be interpreted as being directed against a specific journalist, namely the Stern correspondent in Brussels. The Ombudsman closed the investigation by criticising the way in which OLAF had acted disproportionately, as there was no sufficient evidence for not allowing the allegations to be verified publicly