EU is fraud victim, says whistleblower

A whistleblower who exposed lax financial controls at the European Commission today said former Labour leader Neil Kinnock tried to silence her.

Marta Andreasen spoke out after a leaked report by internal auditors revealed the £63 billion-a-year European Union budget is wide open to fraud and abuse. She was sidelined on full pay from her job as the Commission's chief accountant in May. She faces disciplinary proceedings.

Today she claimed she had been followed by unknown men, had her emails hacked into, and Mr Kinnock, Commission vice-president, tried to stop her giving evidence to Euro-MPs. Tory spokesman David Davis said: "If what she says is true, the Government ought to recall Mr Kinnock and talk to him."

The auditors' report, leaked to the Financial Times, says EU accounts suffer "lack of security" and "obvious risks as regards reliability" while "failures abound and are a waste of public money. It is impossible to put a figure on the amount involved."

The paper was written by Colin Maynard, a director of the EU Court of Auditors. Commission officials said it may never be published because it "contained inaccuracies and the tone of the language was inappropriate".

Ms Andreasen said: "I was asked to contradict regulations by signing off accounts depite knowing them to be untrue. I was threatened with dismissal if I failed to sign. There was a cover-up."

The Commission said Ms Andreason was moved after her accusations against colleagues generated "extreme ill-feeling" and a "total breakdown in relationships".