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EUâs new tough line on corruption: arrest of investigative reporter
Police arrested a leading investigative journalist yesterday on the orders of the European Union, seizing his computers, address books and archive of files in a move that stunned Euro-MPs.Sleaze so blatant it stuns the pros? Now thereâs something... Hans-Martin Tillack, the Brussels correspondent for Germanyâs Stern magazine, said he was held for 10 hours without access to a lawyer by the Belgian police after his office and home were raided by six officers. "They asked me to tell them who my sources were. I replied that was something I would never do. Now they have all my sensitive files, so I suppose theyâll find out anyway," he said last night. The police stateâs arrived sooner than I expected. "The police said I was lucky I wasnât in Burma or central Africa, where journalists get the real treatment," he added. WTF?!!! Mr Tillack said the raid was triggered by a complaint from the EUâs anti-fraud office, OLAF. He was accused of paying money to obtain a leaked OLAF dossier two years ago, which he denies. The European Ombudsman has already come to his defence, issuing a harsh criticism of OLAFâs campaign to silence him. Mr Tillack, who describes himself as a "pro-European federalist", has been OLAFâs most vocal critic, accusing it of covering up abuses within the EU system. Expose all the abuses and there canât be much left, Mr Tillack. As the author of a recent book on EU corruption, he has the greatest archive of investigative files of any journalist working in Brussels. And now the Brusselcop third-world-wannabes have it, too. Wonderful. OLAF was created to replace the old fraud office UCLAF, which was accused of covering up abuses by the disgraced Santer Commission. Many UCLAF staff were transferred to OLAF. And they wonder why few people trust the EU... Posted by: Bulldog 2004-03-20 |
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