Question of the Week

Date: 25/03/04

Hans-Martin Tillack, Brussels correspondent with German weekly Stern, was arrested by Belgian police on 19 March, over allegations he had bribed officials working for EU anti-fraud office OLAF in return for confidential dossiers.

We asked him:

How do you explain the arrest?

Tillack: I can easily have suspicions that there has been a decision made to deliberately harass me.

I haven't bribed anyone. And I heard Alberto Perduca, OLAF's director of investigations, say earlier this week he only has suspicions of bribery.

OLAF definitely seems guilty of double standards. We have seen in the past that it has been reluctant to prosecute in cases of clear evidence.

For example, I have a report it has done on the EU's Committee of the Regions, where several breaches of Belgian law were documented. Yet OLAF's Director Franz-Hermann Brüner did not transfer this to the Belgian authorities.

Even though there is no evidence in my case, OLAF acts as if I am the biggest fraudster in town.

The police took 17 boxes of documents from me. The only thing they asked me is whether I paid for these documents. They didn't ask any specific concrete questions to indicate they have any evidence against me.

I had been due to leave Brussels on 1 April to work in Stern's Hamburg headquarters.

But I have now decided to stay here a bit longer. I will not give in to intimidation.

Question answered by Hans-Martin Tillack, Brussels correspondent with German weekly 'Stern'. Mr Tillack was arrested by Belgian police on 19 March 2004 over allegations he had bribed officials working for European Union anti-fraud office, OLAF, in return for confidential dossiers.