In the answer some doubts are shown about the time of sending the exposition because of the approaching holidays time. It might be better to wait for September. It is said that it is preferable to avoid the handling of this case by anyone brought up in Portugal during the last twenty to thirty years, owing to the environment of corruption developed through that period, which became widely accepted as normal, mined the complete society with rare exceptions. Dated as of 13-7-2005.

Exma. Senhora,

Agradeço a informação que amavelmente me prestou. Dentro de alguns dias penso enviar o que desejo em seu nome. Todavia, devido ao período de férias em que entrámos, já não estou muito certo quanto à oportunidade. Quando endereçar a mensagem que desejo ao Exmo. Senhor Siib Kallas, enviarei outras simultâneas a outras entidades.

Devo, no entanto, esclarecer, que a intenção é precisamente evitar a interferência ou o involvimento no assunto, de qualquer pessoa criada ou educada em Portugal durante as últimas décadas. Não se trata de nenhuma discriminação pessoal ou injustificada. Nem qualquer culpa pode ser atribuída a quem quer que seja. Devido ao clima de corrupção desenvolvido durante o referido período e por quase todos aceite como normal, facilmente se imagina a dificuldade humana em escapar à onda, por mais elevados sentimentos ou princípios que se possam ter.

Eis o problema tal como se apresenta em realidade e sem a mínima sombra de qualquer tipo de ofensa.

Duas dúvidas me restam:
– Teria o Exmo. Senhor Siib Kallas tomado conhecimento da minha mensagem?
– Poderá informar-me do período de férias desse senhor, a fim de me permitir proceder de acordo com o mencionado no início da presente? Agora, as férias podem mudar tudo e não sei se não será preferível aguardar até Setembro…

Os meus melhores cumprimentos.

The following message from Mrs. Elisabeth Werner, answers the first e-mail to Mr. Kallas at the top of this page, which she attached to the tail (not repeated here), and tells that as Member of Mr. Kallas Cabinet in charge of anti-fraud, she should handle the case. This approach starts seeming that community funds built with money from honest tax payer citizens is not of enough importance for the Commissioner to look himself into, even if that hard work earned money has been spoiled, stolen or whatever. it seems that some unknown reasons may well be more important than the very reason for what OLAF had been created. Dated as of 14-7-2005.

In this message it is express again the wish for the Commissioner to read the exposition that would be sent to OLAF and takes note, not asking for any personal or direct intervention, unless he wants to. All that is expectec from him is to be sure he reads it, therefore to receive his personal confirmation that he did it. However, as seen ahead, Mr. Kallas never confirmed the reception himself or said that he read it. We have to conclude that he has never considered the money from European contributors something worth for him to bother with. We must also believe that by not answering himself he was washing his hands, just like Pilatus. Obviously, we have to think of him exactly the same we think about Pilatus, all proportions maintained. 14-7-2005.

Dear Mrs. Werner,

Thank you very much for your answer.

I am perfectly aware of the large mail received by Mr. Siib Kallas, as it surely happens with his other fellow commissioners, so that perfectly understanding your explanation. However, please believe me, I do not pretend to maintain any correspondence at all with him. All I want – owing only to some special and specific circumstances – is both that he reads the exposition I want to send to OLAF to let him know about, and that he answers me, personally, just confirming that he took notice. This is all, nothing else, full stop.

In fact, I do not even pretend asking him for sending my exposition to OLAF. He is, however and of course, perfectly free to do whatever he feels about. (Why should he not be?) If he considers he should do any recommendation or have a word with anyone concerning this matter, this is only up to him and, again, he may proceed at his own will. Though, in this case I would like to be informed by someone from his office, as you, for instance. I know I am repeating myself, but all I pretend is defined in the preceding paragraph.

Kind regards.

In complete disregard of the following message, a personal confirmation from the Commissioner has never been received. As flawlessly mentioned on thr earlier messages, this was the only ground for the expressed wish of forwarding him a copy of the complaint I was going to send to OLAF. This confirms the global consciousnesses of the Commission in what regards the individual citizen's money and overlooking of OLAF. Dated as of 19-7-2005.

Let us note that the above e-mail address of Mr. Kallas is not a private address, as requested. It is clearly his UE official e-mail address. This simply implies that this address is accessed by any of his cabinet collaborators, what means that anyone of the few people with access could confirm the reception without his reading the copy of the complaint to OLAF, which was going to be sent on his own name. We know that this is a bit too thorough and may mean some sort of being fussy, but we had to be sure. Therefore, it was accepted, but the fact was dully acknowledged. However, because of the holidays period, this process was suspended until after holidays. We cannot avoid not to think that such procedure about something that might require a responsible action could be probably an escape on taking responsibility, a most coward proceeding if so. Dated as of 20-7-2005.

This message announced the exposition in a PDF file (the long text under the summary at (http://www.leaopelado.org/english.htm) had just been sent as planned. That massage is copied here, right after this one. Dated as of 25-9-2005.

This is the message to Mr. Siim Kallas, the Vice President Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud, containing the exposition in a PDF file, as above. As several times explained, this exposition was sent simultaneously to him, to OLAF and to OLAF''s Director Mr. Franz Herman Brüner. Correspondence with OLAF and its director is on another page. Dated as of 25-9-2005.

This message from a staff member of the Commissioner's cabinet (archives) (the same who answered the first message to the Commissioner) acknowledges the reception of the complaint and states  that a copy has been given to him. The messages are fully transcribed as explained above. On on this one, as well as on the other messages in Portuguese, we notice clearly how the starting letter addressing polite expression is missing (Dear Mr. that translates into Exmo. Senhor) (or wrong). What the wonder, it was written by a Portuguese citizen, not more civilized than most of their pairs, even if working in the cabinet of an European Commissioner (equivalent to a minister). Dated as of 27-9-2005.

Só para sua informação e cumprindo o procedimento e o circuito de documentos habitual dentro do Gabinete - no que diz respeito aos documentos confidenciais -, acabei de passar ao Comissário uma cópia do seu último e-mail, assim como à Sra. Werner.

Cumprimentos.

[name withheld]

It has been always stated that the objective was to send the same exposition simultaneously to the Commissioner, OLAF and its director. This e-mail is the answer to the message immediately above announcing that it had just been done. Consequently, the mention that the message to the Commissioner had been forwarded to OLAF, in this reply, seems to be at least misadjusted. Dated as of 30-9-2005.

This is the acknowledgement for Mrs. Werner's e-mail, as well as thanking her for the past assistance. At this time any innocent normal person really believed that everything was alright and finished; according to the importance of the facts, OLAF would proceed with an investigation. The time proved  this was wrong. Dated as of 2-10-2005.

Dear Mrs. Werner,

This is to acknowledge the reception of your e-mail and to thank you very much for your previous very kind assistance. Please forgive me if you think I have seemed too insistent on sending the e-mail with the attached PDF file directly to Mr. Sim Kallas – and simultaneously to Mr. Franz-Hermann Bruener and OLAF general mail address, all containing the same PDF file –, but that was all I wished, and now I believe I may never need to bother him again. I consider the involvement of such a large amount of the Community funds, for a long period, of the utmost importance. I am positively sure that Mr. Kallas will take special care of the problem, and that a deep investigation will give the expected and obvious results.

Yours faithfully,

By communication of 7-10-2005, OLAF announced the dismissal of the claim on unbelievable and most stupid lying grounds with allegations not corresponding with what was written on the exposition. This was truly a swindle. This e-mail can be found on the page containing the correspondence with OLAF.

Therefore, an e-mail was sent to The Commissioner stating that the allegations for the dismissal of the exposition were wrongly founded on allegations that did not correspond with the  writings. Dated as of 31-10-2005.

The preceding letter was answered by someone else on behalf of the member of the Commissioner's cabinet, Mrs. Elisabeth Werner, in turn on behalf of the Commissioner. This e-mail contained the answer in a PDF file that can be found by following the link after the text. Dated as of 10-11-2005.

Dear Mr. [name withheld],

Please find attached a reply from Mrs. Elisabeth Werner, Member of
Cabinet Kallas, in response to your e-mail of 31.10.2005.

Yours sincerely,

[name withheld]
Office of Mrs. Elisabeth Werner
Cabinet Kallas
European Commission
BERL 12/174
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels

The attachment mentioned on the e-mail above can be seen in here.

The taken resolution was contested as follows. Dated as of 23-11-2005.

Dear Mrs. Werner,

This is to acknowledge and thank you for your reply, as well as for the contained suggestions. I am sorry for having taken so long to write to you.

I know large organisations are, and usually have to be heavily bureaucratized, like the United Nations, where I was, in Geneva, for most of the time while the facts occurred, coming here only from time to time, taking notice of what was going on, but not able to investigate. Then it was easier because there were many simultaneous cases to look for, but now, when anyone tries to know or ask something, it is like talking to a wall and does not get any answer. In addition, those who profited from the situation will not be the first to talk. Only an official investigation can break through the situation.

However, Mário Soares confirmed today that while he was President of the Portuguese Republic, many people bought expensive cars, state, buildings and houses, becoming immensely wealthy with the corrupted use of the Community funds. In addition, he said that this is the cause of the present poverty in Portugal. Please remember, I used these very same words as part of my complaint. This has been recorded by the television channels and nationally broadcast on all their news. Therefore, it seems obvious that Mr, Sim Kallas should really review the situation and push OLAF to do what is no more than its mission – what it is supposed to do – or else people will be have to believe that one of OLAF’s jobs is covering up corruption and maladministration in the use of the Community funds.

Nevertheless, today it is impossible to recognize the miserable state the country is in and overlook the reason. The responsible government of the time must explain what was done of the some 5 million Euros received per day, for quite a long period. This was a crime that OLAF now seems pretend to cover up.

However, I am not giving up for the reasons you know, mostly because it is not right that the money paid from the pockets and with the work of honest citizens of the contributing countries, mainly France and Germany (the major contributors), should be recklessly dilapidated and stolen with full impunity by corruption and maladministration.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. Elisabeth Werner answered refuting the presented more than obviously correct reasons and justifications. Dated as of 5-12-2005.

Dear Mr. [name withheld],

Thank you for your e-mail of 23 November 2005.

I would like to firmly counter the idea or impression that OLAF or the Commission are involved in any covering up.

However, as pointed out in our previous reply, the European Commission and OLAF can only initiate investigations based on evidence relating to specific programmes or projects. If you can name concrete cases, please forward your suspicions to us.

Yours sincerely,

Elisabeth Werner
Member of Cabinet Kallas
European Commission
BERL 12/171
Rue de la Loi 200
1049 Brussels
 

As Mrs. Elisabeth Werner seemed not happy with the possible and apparent "covering up" idea of OLAF's this was answered once more to finish up the case. No need to insist any further. What else could it be apart from covering up corruption when OLAF was openly behaving against its own "raison d'être", as can be read. Dated as of 4-1-2006.

Dear Mrs. Werner,

Thank you very much for your e-mail. I sincerely apologise for having not answered earlier as I should. I had a lot of mail and lost track of yours. This is what happened, but I understand there is no excuse for such a delay. Therefore, again, I apologise.

What I wrote on the e-mail you refer was no more than mentioning some facts. These facts are not aimed at anyone personally, but still they are facts and can only be taken as such. That there was corruption and maladministration on the use of Community funds as I said and as Mário Soares indicated after me, nationally widely broadcast on television on 23-11-05 and without any complaint from those he accused, cannot be denied. Further more, he was the President and even today he is supposed to know what happened under his nose and whom he accuses.

My mention of Mário Soares was based on two simple grounds. One is because he is well known over all Europe, no matter whether liked or disliked. The other is because, after all, he is no more than one among an uncountable number of people knowing and saying exactly what I said and he confirmed.

If the above mentioned are facts and are true, what idea can we make of an official service such as OLAF, which only reason to exist is checking on such facts, but overlooks them? The only answer coming to my reasoning is on my previous e-mail. If you or anyone else has another justification, please let me learn it. Or else, do not take my words, ask Mário Soares.

This case has not yet reached the end. Believing having not received the proper treatment from OLAF, I will present it to the governments of the concerned countries that most contributed to the dilapidated funds. I shall send it to the most important newspapers of the same countries. I may not get satisfaction, but I will do my duty on trying to obtain justice for all.

I would like to take this opportunity to remark that – whatever the result – you have followed this case showing interest and kindness. For this, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude.

Yours faithfully,