‘I don’t want to be part of this farce’ Judge QUITS EU mission, citing corruption

Malcolm Simmons, who has been the mission’s top judge since 2014, said that he had denounced “several cases of corruption at the heart of the mission” in recent weeks and claimed the organisation, known as EULEX, was subject to political interference.

Mr Simmons accused a fellow judge of hacking his email account and sharing his emails with other judges.

He also accused a judge of having a romantic relationship with a Kosovo jurist who allegedly received favouritism in a trial assignment.

And Mr Simmons accused the British Foreign Office and the European Union of failing to act on his warnings about corruption, in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

He said: “All of this goes against normal procedure. I asked he UK Foreign Office and the EU to refer it to the police. They both refused to support me.”

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The mission, which employs around 800 people is tasked with improving Kosovo’s judicial and legal systems, by supplying international judges and prosecutors for important cases and mentoring local officials.

But Mr Simmons said in reality the mission’s goal was political.

He told Le Monde: “EULEX is not a mission meant to promote the rule of law. It is a political mission. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive or stupid,” saying that he had come under pressure to convict a Kosovo politician because the mission did not want him to stand in upcoming elections.

He added: “EULEX wanted to bring down part of the Kosovar political class.”

Mr Simons also said that he had written to the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini twice to complain about corruption at the mission, but got no response.

He said: “For me, this clearly shows how the European Union deals with corruption… they want to suppress the affair.

“They do nothing. I do not want to be a part of this farce anymore.”

In Brussels, EU foreign policy spokeswoman Maja Kocijančič said: “The EU as well as EULEX operate a zero-tolerance policy towards allegations of inappropriate behaviour and all mission members are accountable for their actions.”

Without commenting on ongoing investigations, Kocijancic said: “All allegations… are investigated and, as appropriate, referred to a disciplinary board.

A statement from EULEX said: “Malcolm Simmons has been, over the past year, the subject of a series of  independent investigations into serious allegations against him. These investigations are being conducted by a team, formed and based in Brussels and chaired by a former judge of the European Court of Justice. These allegations  are in different stages  of investigation and some have proceeded to a Disciplinary Board and are now  awaiting the Board’s decision. The rest are ongoing. 

“The EU and EULEX operate zero tolerance policy towards  inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoings and all Mission members are accordingly accountable for their actions. Therefore, all the allegations recently expressed by Mr Simmons have been treated equally seriously and have also  resulted in an ongoing investigation being conducted in the same manner as the ones against him, i.e. in conformity with the applicable framework, Code of Conduct and Discipline for civilian CSDP Missions adopted by the Council in July 2016. Mr Simmons was requested to furnish all evidence in his possession to support his allegations, but – regrettably- has not done so yet. 

“EULEX does not prejudge the outcome of current investigations and welcome their conclusions which will be as appropriately made public.

“EULEX wants to underline that it is a  Rule of Law Mission with the mandate to assist Kosovo authorities.”


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