Whistleblower fails to back up Kroes complaint

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 28/04/05

Dutch MEP Paul van Buitenen has dropped attempts to charge Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes with being unfit to hold her position due to dodgy dealing in her previous professional life.

In a mea culpa published on his website, van Buitenen admits that information gathered and sent to a Dutch investigative agency did not throw up enough evidence.

"The information in the report is not a basis for solid suspicion of wrongdoing," a translation reads. "At this stage it is not justified to follow up on these allegations."

During Kroes's hearing at the European Parliament, van Buitenen attacked her over several allegations of corruption, which she denied. The former European Commission whistleblower said that he had received numerous complaints over her appointment as commissioner, and subsequently submitted over 300 emails and files totalling 2,000 sheets of paper to SBV Forensics, an agency which helps companies and governments monitor criminal activity. The file included claims that Kroes had a secret Swiss bank account and that she accepted money from a Dutch company for negotiating deals in Indonesia.

But SBV, which assessed the reports but did not investigate them, said that there was not enough evidence to support any legal action. It told van Buitenen: "The findings represent facts that are not entirely founded SBV Forensics cannot therefore draw conclusions."

Kroes said: "During the hearing I remarked that none of the accusations towards me were well-founded and that there was no proof. The SBV report confirms it."

Article reports that the Dutch MEP Paul van Buitenen dropped attempts to charge European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, with being unfit to hold her position due to dubious dealing in her previous professional life.