Friday, October 06, 2006

Hans-Martin Tillack, the reporter for Stern who had his supposedly leaked materials seized from his house by Belgian authorities because of rumors started by OLAF that he had bribed an OLAF official for the material has lost his case at the European Court of First Instance. And here. See Jens Peter Bonde's take on the whole affair: one of many with the same views.

From seeing Mr. Bruner talk about this in the Budget Control Committee under intense grilling from MEPs, I think Mr. Tillack was set up, and I don't believe he paid anyone for information. Mr. Bruner simply didn't like leaks, and wanted to punish a journalist who would criticize the way OLAF goes about its business.

But unfortunately for Bruner, keeping public institutions honest is one of a journalist's main roles in a free and open society.

Since the advent of this case, Tillack has continued to write very good articles on fraud in the EU. Let's just hope this whole case doesn't get him distracted from his work.

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