Paul van Buitenen
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Paul van Buitenen MEP |
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_former_Dutch_MEP_and_(before_that)_famous_wistle_blower_in_the_EU..JPG) |
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| Member of the European Parliament for Netherlands |
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In office 20 July 2004 – 14 July 2009 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
28 May 1957 Breda, Netherlands |
| Nationality | Dutch |
| Political party | EG-EFA |
| Spouse(s) | Married |
| Residence | Breda |
| Website | (in Dutch) http://www.paulvanbuitenen.nl/ |
Paul van Buitenen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɑu̯l vɑn ˈbœy̯tənə(n)]; born 28 May 1957 in Breda) was a Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands and a European civil servant on unpaid leave during his stint as MEP.
He was a Dutch assistant-auditor in the European Commission’s Financial Control Directorate becoming the whistleblower who first drew the attention of a Member of the European Parliament to the irregularities, fraud and mismanagement within the Commission in 1998. In May 2005, he also asked the European Commission to create an investigation, after learning that Frits Bolkestein (famous for the Directive on services in the internal market) was a member of the Russian Bank Menatep's international consultative council (owned by Mikhail Khodorkovsky) and that he had worked for the Shell British-Dutch petrol company, two firms "detaining secret accounts in Clearstream".
His whistleblowing on 9 December 1998 indirectly led to the resignation of the Commission presided by Jacques Santer (who has also been prime minister of Luxembourg) and the fall of Édith Cresson. For this, he was suspended, had his salary halved and ordered to face disciplinary action. He fought on and the combination of his exposures with the public indignation of his treatment by the Commission triggered the collapse of Jacques Santer's Commission, of which Édith Cresson was particularly criticised.
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