Former EU Anti-fraud Chief Siim Kallas Accused of Sabotage
After retiring 10 days ago, a European Court Auditor has accused Estonian Siim Kallas, the European Commission's vice-president, of having “systematically sabotaged“ investigations into corruption.
Serving as the EU's financial watchdog from 2004 to 2010, Kallas allegedly intimidated auditors into overlooking serious fraud, according to Maarten Engwirda, former Dutch member of European Court of Auditors. Engwirda alleges that the current EU commissioner for transport pressured the Court of Auditors to lower their accounting standards, resulting in a “Kremlin-style [...] cover-up culture.”
The spokesman of Kallas denied the claims, the Telegraph wrote.
Among the alleged abuses, Engwirda mentioned French and Italian cover-ups, including a butter subsidies fraud in the 1990s.
