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EU anti-fraud agency may sue after chief loses immunity

11 March 2016, 18:35 CET
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EU anti-fraud agency may sue after chief loses immunity

Giovanni Kessler - Photo EC

(BRUSSELS) - The EU's anti-fraud agency said Friday it may go to the bloc's highest court after its chief was stripped of his diplomatic immunity over claims that he illegally listened in on a phone call during a corruption investigation.

Italian Giovanni Kessler is suspected by Belgian authorities of listening to the call during a probe that ended with the resignation in 2012 of Malta's EU health commissioner John Dalli in a tobacco lobbying scandal.

The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, confirmed on Friday that it had lifted the immunity of Kessler, a former Italian MP and anti-mafia prosecutor, in order to comply with Belgian laws.

But a spokeswoman for the anti-fraud agency, known as OLAF, told AFP that it was now considering whether to take the issue to the European Court of Justice, the EU's top court.

"This confirmation (by the Commission of the immunity withdrawal) gives the Director-General (Kessler) the possibility to take the necessary initiatives to protect OLAF's independence," the spokeswoman said.

EU law "allows the director general to bring action against the European Commission before the European Court of Justice, should OLAF's independence be put at risk."

It said taking the case to the EU court would be "an unprecedented step."

Many EU civil servants in Belgium are granted diplomatic immunity, in addition to paying no taxes in the country.

The European Commission insisted it was "legally obliged" to withdraw Kessler's immunity, saying it was "in line with the duty to cooperate sincerely with national judicial authorities."

Belgian authorities first demanded the Commission lift Kessler's immunity in December 2014 -- after Dalli filed a complaint in a Belgian court -- triggering accusations that the commission was trying to delay the case

Dalli was forced to resign after a probe led by Kessler linked him to a tobacco lobbyist at a time when the EU was introducing tougher anti-smoking legislation, but the Maltese has categorically denied any wrong-doing.


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