Britannia Radio

SUNDAY TIMES    7.9.08
Top EU trade official accused of leaking secrets to Chinese businessmen
The European Commission has launched an investigation into 
allegations that a senior official in Peter Mandelson's trade 
department leaked commercial secrets to Chinese businessmen in return 
for promises of future financial benefit.

    By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels

Fritz-Harald Wenig, one of the European Union's most senior trade 
officials, is said to have passed confidential information on import 
levies and market access to Sunday Times journalists posing as 
lobbyist middle-men for Chinese companies.

The investigation into one of Mr Mandelson's closest aides, a 
department director in the top level of the Trade Commissioner's 
team, has raised fears that Chinese business espionage has penetrated 
the highest ranks of Brussels officialdom.

While no payments were made to Mr Wenig, he is accused of leaking the 
names of two Chinese companies likely to get special status if the EU 
imposes a protective import tariff barrier against candles made in 
China.
He is also alleged to have handed over information detailing new EU 
levies on cheap Chinese shoes, measures that have not yet been agreed 
by the Commission. "The information is potentially worth millions," 
the Sunday Times claimed.

The allegations raise questions about the security and probity of 
Commission decisions which are directly responsible for the EU's 
trade policy in global markets worth billions.

Mr Wenig has denied giving away commercially sensitive secrets and 
described the leaked information as "semi public".

The Commission has opened an investigation to "establish the facts 
and the appropriate consequences" behind the allegations.
"The Commission follows a policy of zero tolerance vis-a-vis 
unethical and illegal behaviour," said a statement.

Syed Kamall, a Conservative MEP on the European Parliament's trade 
committee, said the case showed the need for greater openness "in EU 
decision-making which affects the livelihoods of retailers, their 
employees and millions of consumers".

"We've all known that the EU's trade policy lacks transparency, but 
allegations of industrial espionage take it to a whole new level and 
must be investigated," he said.