The whistleblower who claimed European Union accounts were open to fraud, faces new charges by the European Commission

.The former EU chief accountant, Ms Marta Andreasen, has been waiting more than a year to find out whether the Commission will formally discipline her. Mr Neil Kinnock, EU Administration Commissioner, told her this week he wants her to answer new charges that she spoke at conferences without permission.

Ms Andreasen claims Mr Kinnock is spinning out the disciplinary process so that it will not be concluded until after he leaves office in October 2004. "It is absurd," she said. "They simply don't know what to do about my case and I certainly am not prepared to remain silent."

Ms Andreasen has been suspended on her full €120,000 salary since August 2002 and it is exactly a year since she gave evidence to the Commission's investigating officer, Mr Tom Cranfield. Mr Cranfield's report on Ms Andreasen's case has been with Mr Kinnock since March.

Mr Kinnock's spokesman said new facts were coming to light all the time. "It would be wrong to say this is taking an unusually long time and it is totally untrue to say that we are kicking it into touch."

Since Mr Cranfield's report was completed the Commission has been engulfed by the Eurostat affair, which supported Ms Andreasen's claims the EU budget was open to abuse.

Ms Andreasen was appointed to reform the EU's accounting systems in January 2002 but her proposals were blocked. Eventually she went public with her concerns to the European Parliament and the media.