Defiant Andreasen brands Kinnock ‘accuser and judge’

Date: 05/09/02

By David Cronin

WHISTLEBLOWER Marta Andreasen has vowed not to cooperate with disciplinary proceedings against her by the European Commission unless they take place in public.

Andreasen told European Voice she contests the impartiality of an internal hearing into allegations she broke regulations covering the behaviour of the institution's staff. And she argues that Neil Kinnock, the Commission's personnel chief, is acting as 'the accuser and the judge' in the process.

Andreasen was removed from her post as the Commission's accounting officer in May after alerting the Union's Court of Auditors to concerns that Sincom, a computer-based system used for bookkeeping the EU's €98 billion budget, was 'vulnerable to fraud'.

Initially, she was told she could remain a Commission employee. But she was then informed by Kinnock in late July that the Commission wished to suspend her and launch the first stage of a disciplinary process.

Andreasen declined to show up at a meeting called by Tom Cranfield, the 'hearing officer' for her case, on 27 August. Irishman Cranfield, head of the Commission's publications office, had sent an email the previous day stating he wished to hear her views about her possible suspension. He also warned her that her that failure to attend the following morning's meeting would be reported to Kinnock.

Andreasen has subsequently written to Kinnock stating her view that Cranfield lacks the 'necessary impartiality' and the 'legal competence' to head the inquiry.

'I believe the [disciplinary] process is illegal,' she said. 'The accuser is Kinnock and the judge is Kinnock. As the [Commission's] appointing officer, it seems he has all the power to do anything he wants. None of the disciplinary board's decisions will be binding on him.'

In a briefing to reporters, Kinnock said he did not wish to comment in detail about the investigation as he deems it 'sub judice'. However, he rebutted suggestions that the Commission's actions were an act of retaliation against a whistleblower. 'The only reason she's been suspended is because of allegations of cumulative breaches of staff regulations,' added Kinnock.

Replying to a recent letter from a member of the British parliament, Kinnock claimed it was incorrect to brand Andreasen a whistleblower as the Commission had already been taking steps to remedy the concerns she highlighted about its accounting system.

'Whistleblowing is the reporting of evidence of possible error or wrongdoing that has not been otherwise disclosed or dealt with,' Kinnock told David Davis, the opposition Conservative Party's shadow deputy premier. 'On the basis of the facts and the record it is really not possible to consider that whistleblowing is at all evident in these matters.'

The Commission has accused her of flouting three staff regulations. It says she should not have made statements which reflect badly on the institution; that she failed to observe its hierarchy by contacting MEPs and the Court of Auditors about matters which should have been discussed with her immediate superiors; and that she had been absent from work without permission.

The third claim relates to her decision to travel to London on 1 August to attend a press conference with Conservative MEP Chris Heaton-Harris.

Andreasen rejects all the charges.

Firstly, she says she respected the discretion clauses in the staff rules. She notified her concerns about Sincom to Commission chief Romano Prodi, and its vice-presidents Loyola de Palacio and Neil Kinnock in early May. It was only after she felt the issues were not being properly tackled that she contacted other EU bodies.

Secondly, she says her job description explicitly gave her responsibility for liaising with the Court of Auditors.

And thirdly, she feels there was no reason why she should not have been in London on 1 August as the Commission had given her no work to perform after moving her into a nebulous role as an 'hors classe' advisor.

'The Commission has not explained why it has withdrawn the responsibility of accounting officer from me,' she said. 'There is no justification for this. I have already asked for the decision to be annulled and I want reinstatement.'

Andreasen, who holds joint Spanish and Argentinian citizenship, became accounting officer at the Commission's budget directorate-general in January. She had previously been sacked from the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), after raising similar concerns about its accounting system.

Some Commission insiders allege she failed to inform it about her earlier dismissal, but Andreasen refutes this claim.

She nonetheless acknowledged that her dealings with Jean-Paul Mingasson, head of DG Budget during her stint there, were extremely strained.

The two had some heated disagreements over the institution's accounts and staffing issues, she said.

Andreasen revealed that Mingasson had taken particular offence when she objected to his practice of allowing stagiaires to sit in on discussions she considered confidential.

Andreasen says she also feels badly let down by Michaele Schreyer, the budget commissioner who personally appointed her over Mingasson's head. 'He made it clear from the start I was not his choice for the job,' said Andreasen.

'Schreyer assured me that, unlike at the OECD, I would have 100 support from senior management. At first things were fine with Schreyer, but then Mingasson objected to me having one-to-one meetings with her and things changed.'

Andreasen said she had recently been asked to certify the books covering her time as accounting officer as part of the hand-over to her successor. But she refused to do this because Schreyer had blocked the release of documentation allowing her to review the figures.

Diary of a whistleblower.

1 January: Marta Andreasen joins the European Commission as accounting officer

13 February: Writes to Jean-Paul Mingasson, then head of the budget directorate-general, highlighting concerns about Sincom, the Commission's computer-based bookkeeping system 7 May: Writes to Romano Prodi, the Commission president, arguing that Sincom is 'vulnerable to fraud'

22 May: Makes the same statement in a letter to the European Court of Auditors

23 May: European Voice breaks story about her claims

23 May: Receives letter from Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer, informing her that the Commission intends to strip her of her post

24 May: Informs MEPs about Sincom's weaknesses

25 June: Office of Neil Kinnock, the commissioner for personnel, seeks legal advice about whether she may be prevented from giving evidence to a European Parliament committee

1 July: Commission's legal service replies, stating she has the right to petition the assembly as an EU citizen

23 July: Andreasen gets letter from Kinnock, stating his desire to suspend her, pending the results of a disciplinary hearing

1 August: Andreasen travels to London to publicise her grievances at a press conference organised by MEP Chris Heaton-Harris

26 August: Commission 'hearing officer' Tom Cranfield summons her to a meeting the following morning

27 August: Andreasen fails to attend this meeting

27 August: Writes to Kinnock, stating she does not consider the disciplinary process as impartial

29 August: Commission confirms she is suspended

Marta Andreasen, the sacked European Commission's accounting officer, has said that she will not cooperate with disciplinary proceedings against her by the European Commission unless they take place in public.

ESO: In Focus: European Commission: Internal accounting controls, August 2002 http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-commission-internal-accounting-controls-august-2002/

---