Commission still in the dark over contractor accused of fraud

Date: 19/06/03

By David Cronin

THE European Commission has still not been informed what action is being taken against a contractor whose alleged €14 million-a-year fraud network helped trigger the collapse of Jacques Santer's team in 1999.

Insiders told European Voice that Luxembourg's judicial authorities have not appraised the Commission of how they are handling a dossier concerning Claude Perry, who allegedly won lucrative contracts from the EU executive by bribing its officials.

The dossier concerning Perry, a French Algerian based in Luxembourg, was transmitted to the Grand Duchy's prosecutor by Carlo Trojan, then the Commission's secretary-general, in 1998. It had been prepared by UCLAF, as the institution's anti-fraud office was then known. "We have heard nothing in response [from Luxembourg]," said a Commission official.

The news comes as the current Commission faced what many consider as its most challenging week since taking office in 1999.

Some MEPs expressed incredulity at a claim by Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer on Tuesday (17 June) that she was not made aware of an audit report which raised concerns about suspected wrongdoing in Eurostat, the Commission's data agency, until last month (see Page 4).

However, officials under her command had been given the document more than three years earlier.