Paul Van Buitenen, ancien fonctionnaire européen rebelle et actuel député européen, met en cause le commissaire européen Frits Bolkestein dans un communiqué dont nous reproduisons la version anglaise
'Clearstream' is the name of the world's most important international clearing-house. It channels international transactions of money and other financial instruments between banks. The computers of this Luxembourg based company transport over 100 billion euro daily and the company runs thousands of bank accounts in more than 100 countries, of which about half in 'off-shore' environments.
Behind 'Clearstream' a parallel world of hidden bank accounts exists. These accounts are supposed to be held by banks alone. However, also other organisations have non-published bank accounts with 'Clearstream'. It appears for instance that oil company Shell has at least ten different accounts in this hidden area. Also the Russian oil company Yukos has such accounts with Clearstream through its investment company Menatep. Through this circuit, not only regular clearing actions are performed, but also transactions linked to the affair ‘Group Elf’, terrorism and the Italian mafia. These revelations were made in two books that appeared in France in 2001 and 2002.
In 2002, on behalf of several members of the European Parliament, an official parliamentary question was put to euro commissioner Frits Bolkestein, with a request to investigate these indications of irregularities. Bolkestein rejected the parliamentary request for an enquiry, claiming that the Luxembourg judicial authorities were perfectly capable of solving this 'internal Luxembourg' matter. Recently the Luxembourg judicial authorities decided to abandon all criminal investigations.
Menatep Limited, with seat in Gibraltar, pursued legal actions for defamation against the authors of the books. They launched legal action in 2001 which was turned down in 2002. In appeal, Menatep claimed 760,000 euros for damages. In September 2004, the Paris high court again turned down Menatep's request.
A few days ago, on May 23, Group Menatep announced from its London office that it recruited Mr. Bolkestein to its international advisory board. The career of Mr. Bolkestein contains 16 years within the Shell Group at posts in South America, Africa, Indonesia and Europe. The Menatep advisory board assists in protecting the Group's assets after the criminal charges of the Russian authorities against Yukos, Menatep's main asset and against its founder Mr. Chodorkovski.
Paul van Buitenen,
Member of the European parliament
More info: www.europatransparant.nl
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