Valentina Pop EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Italian politician and former anti-Mafia prosecutor Giovanni Kessler has emerged as the European Parliament's favourite candidate for the head of the EU's anti-fraud office (Olaf). The European Commission has the final say and may choose parliament's second-best option, Olaf 'insider' Thierry Cretin.
Euro-deputies dealing with budgetary control and anti-fraud issues on Tuesday night (9 November) shortlisted Mr Kessler with 27 and Mr Cretin with 24 votes, out of the six candidates who were put forward by the European Commission.
Belgium's head of police, Johan Denolf, came in third, followed by the interim Olaf chief, Nicholas Ilett and the "father" of Olaf, former Austrian MEP Herbert Boesch. Swedish tax authority chief Christina Gellerbrant, the only woman in the running and self-admittedly with no "Brussels experience," got zero votes.
Read on here:
http://euobserver.com/9/31244 