Franchet mounts Eurostat offensive

Yves Franchet, the tarnished former director of the EU’s statistical arm Eurostat, has accused Romano Prodi of violating his rights.

In a frank letter sent this week to the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee, Franchet attacks a hard-hitting speech by the European Commission President to MEPs in September.

Prodi openly fingered Franchet for misleading his commission bosses about the scandal at Eurostat which saw millions of euro filtered into secret bank accounts.

A speech Franchet claims violates the presumption of 'innocent until proven guilty'.

According to the former Eurostat boss, “there is no proof to this day that can confirm these defamatory comments and accusations”.

OLAF, he writes, is also guilty of violating his right to be presumed innocent and of failing to protect the confidentiality of sensitive documents sent in March 2003 to the Paris Public Prosecutor. 

Franchet’s letter protests his innocence in the Eurostat scandal, which centres around a network of cosy contracts and slush funds.

According the former director, the commission sanctioned and benefited from contracts with the companies CESD and Eurocost, both of which he founded.

He argues that earlier internal audit reports, which he commissioned personally and which detail Eurostat’s finances, also vindicate his case.

“They do not identify any fraud, or corruption, or the disappearance of Community money, or the use of Community funds for any other purpose than Eurostat’s mission,” Franchet writes.

Investigations this year by the commission’s special taskforce and the internal audit service back these findings, he says.

“The confirmed irregularities are those which were identified by the [original] internal audit report and corrected in the following weeks,” Franchet stresses.

Not only were the initial audit reports sent to OLAF and the commission’s internal control services, but they were twice brought to the attention of Commissioner in charge of Eurostat, Pedro Solbes, he adds.

This occurred in March 2000, when he was told of difficulties with the audit of Eurocost, and then in June 2002.

The lack of an early warning system within the commission is to blame, says Franchet.

He backs up his letter with documented evidence prepared by his lawyers, who accuse the commission of sacrificing his rights through its blatant “self-protection.”

Haunted by the “spectre of... Santer”, they argue, the commission has reacted in a political manner, contributing to the “media-lynching” of both Franchet and another senior official, Daniel Byk.

They criticise the commission for launching enquiries in haste when the affair hit the headlines this summer, failing to consult Franchet and Byk on the details.

OLAF also stands accused of acting “in a scandalous manner” for its sluggish response to the internal audits commissioned by Franchet.

Chief commission spokesman Reijo Kemppinin refused to be drawn on the accusations.

“We have launched disciplinary proceedings against Yves Franchet and it is in the hands of the lawyers,” he said.

“It would not be useful for us to open up the debate with him in public.”

Franchet’s letter follows a previous request to the budgetary control committee to give evidence in person.

MEPs on the committee remain split over the question and a final decision has not yet been made.

“We always hear from the commission but never from the people they accuse,” argued UK Conservative Chris Heaton-Harris MEP in Franchet’s favour. 

However, support for the hearing was recently slammed by committee heavyweight Helmut Kuhne as an attempt to undermine the current criminal investigation.

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