The official who blew the whistle in April on allegations of corruption and mismanagement at the European Court of Auditors is reported to have been suspended today, Monday. Dougal Watt told the EUobserver that he first learned of his imminent suspension on Friday, during a marathon 3 ½ hour interview with the Court's Secretary General, Michel Hervé, and the directorsof the Court's legal and translation services.

However, the Court has refused to confirm whether or not the suspension has gone ahead. "We have no further information at all concerning Dougal Watt," said a spokeswoman.

Mr Watt believes he has been suspended for breaching staff regulations on confidentiality. In April
this year, he complained formally to the European Ombudsman, MEPs and court staff of "systematic corruption and abuse in the European court of auditors." He was subsequently supported by 205 of his colleagues – 40% of the court’s staff – in a secret ballot.

The auditor then fled to Scotland where he was diagnosed as suffering from an anxiety disorder. Mr Watt told the Glasgow Herald that he feared for his life after claiming to have exposed mafia-related corruption at the heart of the European Institutions.

Quatraro case
Brussels-based website, The Sprout, has revealed that in a subsequent lengthy letter to theCourt’s Secretary General in July, Mr Watt sought to expose Masonic links to the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of an Italian Commission official, Antonio Quatraro, in 1993.
Dr Quatraro was under investigation for alleged fraud and bribery in the tobacco sector when he fell to his death from a Brussels office block. The case was subsequently closed and Mr Watt has questioned why his superiors were never investigated. He has since alleged that the heirarchy of OLAF – the EU’s anti-fraud body - was guilty of misleading the European Parliament over the case.

The Sprout has also revealed that Mr Watt is prepared to speak to OLAF for the first time.
Mr Watt confirmed to the EUobserver that he may approach OLAF this week. A spokesman for
the anti-fraud body said that OLAF had tried to contact the official several times in the past but
that he had been "reticent" about speaking to them.

Disappointment
Mr Watt said that he had been deeply disappointed by the Court’s handling of the case on a
personal and a professional level. He claimed that the Court does not want to admit there is any
substance to his allegations by pursuing them further. "This is something very grave that they don’t
want to look at because it doesn’t suit them," he said.

He added that the Secretary General had poured scorn on his belief that he would be safer from the
mafia in Scotland than in Luxembourg. "I am upset because they (the Court) know that I am
worried about my family but they refuse to recognise the rationality of my fears," he said.

Mr Watt has not yet received an official response to his July letter from either the court’s hierarchy
or the chairman of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, Diemut Theato.

He believes that he may lose his position following the court’s disciplinary procedure.

Press Articles  The Herald  The Sprout 
Written by Nicola Smith
Edited by Honor Mahony