Friday

29th Mar 2024

Departure of EU's under-fire fraud chief was 'neutral'

  • Olaf's director-general is leaving his post for a new job next week. (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

The head of EU's anti-fraud office Olaf, Giovanni Kessler, would have been moved to an advisor role with no executive responsibilities at the European Commission, had he decided not to leave for a new job in Rome.

EU budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger told MEPs on Wednesday (11 October) that Kessler next March would have automatically been given a position as a so-called "hors-classe advisor" at the EU commission with a top pay grade had he not been hired in Rome to oversee Italy's customs and monopoly agency.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"He would probably have become a hors-classe advisor, with full expenses on our payroll," he said.

Oettinger's comments follows moves by the EU commission to release Kessler from his current post as Olaf's director-general, whose term in the job was already coming to an end. Kessler had been appointed to the seven-year non renewable Olaf position in early 2011.

But Kessler had also earlier last year threatened to sue the EU commission, after it lifted his immunity following demands by the Belgian public prosecutor given broader allegations he had illegally eavesdropped on telephone calls.

Those calls were during a 2012 investigation that led Malta's John Dalli, who was at the time EU health commissioner, to step down in a scandal also known as Dalligate.

With his immunity lifted, Kessler took his case against the European Commission to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The court has yet to make any decision.

Despite the internal turmoil, Oettinger maintains that the EU commission's decision to release Kessler to Rome was "completely neutral".

"On the 16th or 17th of October, he will take up his post there in Rome. So we were completely neutral. There was no activity by the Commission," he said.

Nicholas Ilett will be Olaf's acting director-general as of 16 October and until someone else is appointed on a more permanent basis.

Magazine

Fraudsters lured by EU structural funds

It's the job of the European Anti-Fraud Office to investigate any corruption and embezzlement of EU-funded projects. But why are structural funds in particular so attractive to criminals?

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us