Brussels Accused of 'Police State Tactics'
By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The European Union was accused of using "police state tactics" to stifle criticism after police raided the offices of a Brussels journalist and seized a vast archive of documents identifying his sources.

Hans-Martin Tillack, Brussels correspondent for Germany's Stern magazine, said Belgian police took computers, mobile telephones, address books, bank statements and 17 boxes of documents.

They were acting on instructions from the EU's anti-fraud office, Olaf.

Mr Tillack was held incommunicado by police without access to a lawyer for 10 hours last month. The second raid occurred on Wednesday, (21st April). He is suspected of bribing an official to obtain an internal Olaf dossier in 2002.

He dismissed the claim as being pure fabrication intended to justify a "fishing expedition" through his files.

Herbert Bosch, an Austrian Socialist MEP in charge of overseeing Olaf, said: "What is happening is absolutely unacceptable. I don't believe there is a scrap of evidence against Tillack."

Chris Heaton-Harris, a Tory MEP, accused Olaf of "police state tactics" and said it was part of a pattern in which EU whistleblowers were singled out for harsh treatment.

Mr Tillack has clashed repeatedly with Olaf, accusing it of dragging its feet on serious corruption cases.
Daily Telegraph, 23rd April 2004

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