Paul van Buitenen
Paul van Buitenen (born may 28, 1957 in Breda) was a Dutch civil servant who became the whistle blower whose allegations of fraud and mismanagement within the European Commission in 1998 led to the resignation of Jacques Santer and the other commissioners (of which Edith Cresson was particularly criticised). Van Buitenen at the time was employed as an assistant-auditor in the Commission?s Financial Control Directorate.
For his actions, Van Buitenen was disciplined and suspended by the EU. Eventually he was (at least partially) forgiven and he returned to the organisation in 2003, in a different capacity. Nevertheless, he would later leave for good in order to pursue a political career.
Pledging to continue his fight against fraud and bureaucratic inefficiency on the European level, Van Buitenen founded a party named Europa Transparant, ran with it for the European Parliament in the 2004 elections (in the member state the Netherlands) and won two seats. Van Buitenen joined the Greens-EFA group in the European Parliament as an independent member .
