'Whistleblower' Robert Dougal Watt speaks out

I AM EMPLOYED as an auditor by the European Court of Auditors, Luxembourg, where I have worked since 1995. I worked previously for the UK National Audit Office, 1989-95, where I qualified as an accountant; and earlier for H.M. Customs and Excise, 1987-89.

On 22 April 2002, I “blew the whistle” on systematic corruption and abuse in the European Court of Auditors, in a letter addressed to the European Ombudsman, MEPs, and the staff of the Court.

The veracity of my allegations of corruption and abuse, and my call for the current fifteen Members to resign since all have benefitted from corruption and abuse, were formally endorsed and supported by 205 of my colleagues – 40% of the institution’s staff – in a secret ballot organised by the Court. Since 22 April, I have been on sick leave.

On 17 June, I separately alleged to the Court that the European Anti-Fraud Office (known by its acronym in French, OLAF) has misled the European Parliament regarding the violent death in suspicious circumstances in 1993 of a Commission official, Dr Antonio Quatraro. At the time of his death, Dr Quatraro was the subject of an internal investigation, which was examining his role in the award of intervention tobacco sales contracts to companies linked to the Mafia. I submit that the available evidence suggests Dr Quatraro was not any “Mr Big”, but was more probably a minor and possibly coerced player in a masonic conspiracy within the European Commission. Considered along with other failures by OLAF – in particular, OLAF’s refusal to follow up evidence presented by two senior Court auditors, suggesting a specific Director general of the Commission had been paid a “kick-back” by the Swiss-registered multinational company, Société Générale de Surveillance – I conclude the available evidence strongly suggests that OLAF systematically protects wrong-doing by highly placed individuals within Community institutions. This analysis is consistent with the evidence presented by Mr Paul Van Buitenen and others. I received no response from the Court to my letter.

Upon the basis of the “P2” scandal in Italy, my letter of 17 June also presented the thesis that it is conceivable that the American CIA might be aware of, or even involved in, any such high-level masonic corruption. The CIA was instrumental in resurrecting freemasonry in post-war continental Europe.

On 18 June, I wrote again to MEPs, substantiating the allegations made in my letter of 22 April.

On 1 July, I wrote to Mrs Theato, Chair of the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, copying my letter of 17 June, in which I express fears for my life. I received no response from Mrs Theato.

On 20 August, I presented further material to the Court supporting my thesis that a masonic dimension may be present in the “Quatraro Case” and its cover-up; and supporting the plausibility of the possibility of CIA involvement (e.g., as recently as 1996, the CIA was caught stealing GATT trade negotiation secrets from the European institutions’ computer network). I received no response from the Court.

Today, I have presented a further letter to the Court, summarised below, based entirely upon information which is already in the public domain:

- Mr James Woolsey, President Clinton’s appointment as Director of CIA, 1993-95, spent his earlier career in a succession of high-profile positions in the military and diplomatic service of his country; interspersed with periods working as a lawyer for companies belonging – with one exception – to what President Eisenhower dubbed “the military-industrial complex”. The exception, for which Mr Woolsey worked in the period 1991-93, was Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS);

- in 1994, SGS acquired Cotecna, an American-owned, Swiss-registered company;

- in the period 1994-96, executives of both SGS and Cotecna paid substantial “kick-back” bribes to Benazir Bhutto, then Prime Minister of Pakistan, in return for the award by Pakistan of contracts to the two companies. A variety of sources indicate that Ms Bhutto was not popular with the American political elite. Her father had adopted populist policies of nationalisation; whereas the military regime which followed him, and preceded her, encouraged the private sector. Pakistan’s military regime was vital for US covert action against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan; during the 1980s, the largest CIA office in the world was situated in Islamabad;

- in 1997, a firm of American private investigators brought to public attention a set of incriminating SGS and Cotecna documents stolen from the safe of the Bhutto family lawyer in Switzerland. The consequent scandal devastated Ms Bhutto’s reputation. The firm of private investigators, Kroll Associates, has worked frequently for US federal authorities, and is staffed by former CIA agents and ex-Special Forces personnel. According to its Managing Director, “We’re like a private CIA”;

- in 1997, Cotecna was sold back to its original owners. It is currently active in many developing countries, verifying compliance with World Bank and IMF loan conditions; a task which gives its staff close links with national elites, and great financial and economic influence;

- Cotecna employs the son of Mr Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General. The company holds the contract for verifying Iraq’s compliance with the UN’s “oil for food” programme. The company currently has staff based in Iraq.

I fear my life to be at risk. I have brought the corruption of the European Court of Auditors to public attention; raised awkward questions concerning the violent death of a Mafia-related Commission official; alleged that the available evidence is consistent with the operation of an inter-institutional masonic network protecting corruption; and now discovered evidence which suggests a link between such corruption and covert CIA activity in Europe and beyond.

The corruption of Ms Bhutto, and the evidence presented to OLAF by two of my colleagues concerning the conduct of a Director General – evidence which OLAF refused to investigate – involve the same company, in the same time period, and the same “kick-back” method.

My own employer has failed to investigate the evidenced allegations which I have submitted, and has vilified me for bringing to light its own corruption. It has passed to OLAF my allegations against the Court; and passed my allegations against OLAF, to OLAF itself for investigation – a very comfortable arrangement! The leadership of the European parliament has not responded to my evidence concerning corruption in the Commission.

The allegations of corruption, including nepotism, which I presented against the Members of the European Court of Auditors on 22 April and substantiated on 18 June, are serious in nature. For example, I alleged Members had paid themselves a salary “weighting” to which they were not entitled. On 1 July – just thirteen days after I substantiated this allegation – the Court announced this practice, which has also benefitted the top rank in other European institutions, to be illegal. One British newspaper subsequently criticised Mr Kinnock for receiving £30,000 a year to which he was not entitled. The illegality of the practice has been known by the audit staff of the Court for many years. But the Members turned a blind eye. They benefitted financially from the illegality.

Corruption has been permitted to flourish, to the benefit of all the institutions’ elites. As shown by the experience of Mr Paul Van Buitenen, and of others who have more recently “blown the whistle” on corruption and mismanagement: the European system is now so degraded that it cannot police itself. The bodies charged with safeguarding the public interest from such corruption – the European Court of Auditors, the European Anti-Fraud Office, the European parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee, the Ombudsman – are indolent, if not actively corrupt.

The very fabric of democracy in “Europe” is at risk. Financial accountability underpins political accountability; and when neither the accounts nor the audit are reliable, the financial and the political legitimacy of the European endeavour is undermined. I, and 205 of my colleagues, have “blown the whistle” on corruption in the Court of Auditors. We can do no more without the assistance of those beyond the European institutions who are committed to democracy.

Note: This report was written and signed by Robert Dougal Watt on September 3 2002 and received by JUST Response one week later. It was published for the first time as an exclusive report by JUST Response on September 16 2002.

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