Whistleblower snubs hearing

Date: 08/05/03

By David Cronin

WHISTLEBLOWER Dougal Watt, who alerted MEPs to alleged cases of nepotism and sexual harassment at the Court of Auditors, is refusing to cooperate with a disciplinary hearing against him.

Speaking to European Voice, the Scotsman said he had been summoned before a board investigating if he broke staff regulations but declined to attend because its remit was "too restricted".

In particular, he voiced concerns that the Luxembourg-based Court of Auditors lacks adequate rules to protect staff who believe it is in the public interest to "blow the whistle" on suspected wrongdoing. Instead, the board is tasked merely with determining whether Watt breached staff regulations by informing "outsiders" about its internal affairs without permission from his superiors.

"The principle is to establish "did I talk to the press, did I talk to MEPs?" I think that's self-evident," said the official.

His non-cooperation was based on "the premise there is no protection for whistleblowers.

"I couldn't argue that I did this in the public interest as it would be ruled that this is beyond the scope [of the hearing]".

Watt was suspended on full pay late last year.

The middle-ranking "A7" grade auditor had taken sick leave after circulating a memo to MEPs and to all 550 staff members in the Court.

This detailed claims that top-level jobs in the institution had been awarded on the basis of personal contacts, rather than on merit, and that complaints of sexual harassment against a senior official may not have been properly investigated.

Although the dossier did not give names, it subsequently emerged that some of the allegations were directed at one current and one former member of the Court's top table.

Watt told this newspaper that he had been encouraged by a lawyer, as well as by his brother and sister, to cooperate with the disciplinary hearing on 30 April, but had decided against it.

Although it would have enabled him to present "mitigating" evidence to justify his actions, that would have inevitably involved calling witnesses who had given him information on a confidential basis.

"Morally, I don't think I have the right to do that," he said.

"I am not going to get dragged into trench warfare when talking about disciplinary proceedings.

"If they're going to shaft me, that says more about them than about me."

The disciplinary board is comprised of a director appointed by the Court's administration and two representatives of the administration, plus two from the committee representing its staff.

Watt said he had not been told when it is due to complete its deliberations.

The official, who joined the Court in 1995, admitted he had suffered mental exhaustion due to his decision to blow the whistle.

He said that the Court stopped his salary for three months while he was on sick leave in Scotland, but had repaid the money after he returned to Luxembourg in December.

This followed confirmation from a doctor working for the Court that Watt had genuinely been unwell.

A spokeswoman for the Court said the disciplinary proceedings were under way because the institution is "obliged to apply the staff regulations; we don't have any other choice".

Whistleblower Dougal Watt, who alerted MEPs to alleged cases of nepotism and sexual harassment at the Court of Auditors, is refusing to co-operate with a disciplinary hearing against him.