Sparks fly over ECHO fraud allegations

Date: 15/10/1998

By Simon Coss

A FIERCE personal battle has erupted between two European Commissioners as the shockwaves caused by the scandal over allegations of fraud at the EU's humanitarian office continue to ripple through the institution.

Italy's Emma Bonino, the Commissioner in charge of the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO), is reportedly furious with her colleague Anita Gradin, who oversees the Commission's internal fraud unit UCLAF.

While none of the Commission's 20-strong team disputes the right of UCLAF to carry out investigations into alleged fraud, sources say Bonino feels that Gradin should have been more openly supportive of her since news of the probe became public.

“Bonino has reacted very badly to this and feels Gradin is not supporting her,” said one member of the Humanitarian Aid Commissioner's camp.

Insiders say that Gradin and Bonino have never had a particularly warm relationship and this latest incident has seen it plunge to an all-time low. “It's a matter of chemistry,” said one.

Bonino is particularly upset at suggestions that she is somehow to blame - albeit by association - for the alleged fraud, even though the incidents currently under investigation took place before she took up her duties in Brussels in 1995.

At the time of the alleged irregularities, which concern the way a series of contracts awarded by ECHO in the early 1990s were managed, Spanish Commissioner Manuel Marín, now a Commission vice-president, was in charge of the humanitarian office.

Gradin's officials insist that their boss is not embarking on a personal crusade, but simply wants to establish the facts of the case. “Anita's attitude is very laconic and her point of view has always been, 'I want to get to the bottom of this',” said one.

Bonino's aides stress that ECHO staff have cooperated fully with the UCLAF inquiry and say that a number of the allegations in question concern administrative irregularities rather than fraud.

They say the difference between the two concepts is important. The term 'fraud' implies that criminal attempts have been made to embezzle EU funds, while 'administrative irregularities' can simply refer to bad accounting practices and sloppy management.

Meanwhile, a heated debate is raging within the Commission over whether President Jacques Santer was right to bow to pressure from MEPs last week by announcing plans for a new independent fraud investigation office.

The European Parliament insists a new body is needed because Commission officials should not be allowed to investigate their colleagues. But some people in the institution suspect Santer's move is motivated by political considerations. “The whole purpose of this is to shuffle off the problem in order to reach the end of this Commission without a crisis,” said one.