EU chief Jean Claude Juncker is branded ‘arrogant’

Here, the Mail pieces together the story so far:

THE SEEDS OF HIS DOWNFALL

THE beginning of the end for Mr Juncker as PM came in 2006 when Luxembourg’s spy agency, the SREL, learnt of claims about a conversation he had with Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg. The agency is said to have wanted to check out the claims, which were made by informer Loris Mariotto, who allegedly came forward to tell spies he had a recording of Mr Juncker speaking with the Grand Duke.

Their conversation is said to be about the Grand Duke’s brother, Prince Jean, and whether he had been at Luxembourg airport shortly before it was bombed in 1985.

After hearing Mariotto’s claims, the spy agency began bugging his phone in 2007. Mille claims the operation was sanctioned by the PM. But Mr Juncker denies this. The bugging began on January 28, 2007, and lasted three days. It ended when Mr Mille and Mr Juncker held a discussion that Mr Mille secretly taped on a wristwatch recorder.

THE WRISTWATCH TRANSCRIPT

THE meeting on January 31, 2007, was covertly recorded by the spymaster on his wristwatch. A transcript reveals Mr Mille discussing the details of the surveillance on Mr Mariotto.

In it, Mille makes various comments on the bugging including: ‘I asked you…if we could tap somebody’s phone and you authorised it…so indeed we switched this on, we had that conversation with him. That conversation we had we recorded it on our mobile.’

He adds: ‘We realised we had kept it going for a weekend but there is nothing in it and we realised there some security company on the line…so we swtiched it off again, it has never happened.’ This recording later formed the basis for illegal wiretapping charges against Mille. But, crucially, Juncker barely features in the original transcript.

Two of his junior colleagues were also charged – Frank Schneider, former director of operations at the SREL, and agent André Kemmer.

Mr Schneider later said the operation to secretly record their own prime minister was ‘a stupidity that should never have happened’.

FORCED OUT OVER SPY PROBE

IN December 2012, amid concerns about abuses by Luxembourg’s spies, a parliamentary inquiry was launched and a copy of the wristwatch recording on a USB stick and a transcript was submitted.

It is alleged that this transcript was incomplete, missing remarks made by Juncker.

The parliamentary probe uncovered widespread abuses among Luxembourg spies. In July 2013, Juncker resigned as prime minister. The three intelligence chiefs accused of wiretapping Mariotto were referred to the prosecutor’s office and later charged.

NEW TRANSCRIPT IS DISCOVERED

THE spy trio were sent for trial. They denied the charges, saying the wiretap was approved by Mr Juncker.

But under oath in May 2015, he denied this, saying: ‘There was definitely no permission for a full phone-tapping operation.’

The trial was due to have finally started last month. But, in a huge twist, the three defendants discovered a different version of the transcript – containing Mr Juncker’s missing remarks – among thousands of files of prosecution documents given to the defence.

In this fuller version of the transcript, Mr Juncker reportedly says, ‘Mhm, mhm’, (interpreted as agreement) when Mr Mille tells him they have bugged a phone call ‘and you authorised it’.

Mr Juncker also says, ‘Yes, yes, yes’, as Mr Mille tells him details of the surveillance operation. At another point in their conversation, Mr Juncker is heard saying ‘…during the two days we were listening’. None of these remarks were included in the first transcript.

TRIAL HALTED AND NEW PROBE ORDERED

LAST month Mille declared he was not getting a fair trial. He issued a statement saying there had been a ‘scandalous manipulation of the most important document’.

He claimed the fuller transcript showed Juncker ‘fully understood that the intelligence service had carried out a full surveillance operation’ which he had ‘approved orally’. Mille added: ‘Who caused the falsification, we do not know. It is not insignificant in answering this question, however, [to ask] who benefits from this.’

On November 21, Mille lodged a counter-case, demanding that prosecutors investigate who ‘falsified’ the transcript. He also launched a civil action demanding compensation of €500,000 (£440,000) each.

The original wiretapping case was suspended. On December 4, another judge in Luxembourg granted Mille’s request and opened a criminal inquiry into the allegedly ‘falsified’ transcript.

It will examine whether officials working for Mr Juncker were involved in preparing the incomplete transcript, Mr Juncker’s officials stress that he is not under investigation and say he is available to appear as a witness.



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