When anonymous letters alleging corruption began appearing at a little-known EU advisory body, its first response was to launch a full-blown hunt for the whistleblower.

The European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, which has an annual budget of 165 million, has been rocked by allegations that the body’s secretary-general, Isabelle Le Galo Flores, unduly handed out public contracts to her friends and associates.

The first reaction at the top of the EU organisation was to attempt to catch the source of the claims so that the anonymous accuser could face disciplinary action, a secret note reveals.

Séamus Boland, the president of the EESC, sent the note on 5 March marked “strictly confidential” to two security officials, instructing them to gather up all the 50 letters estimated to have been distributed, and “collect all elements that could help to identify the possible perpetrator”.

Daniel Freund, a German Green MEP who received Boland’s note at his parliamentary office from an anonymous source, called for the EESC’s leadership to face “political consequences”.

“If these letters are authentic, then I think they show that this leadership is unfit,” he said.

“People that expose wrongdoing, maladministration, fraud, or whatever it is, should not be prosecuted but celebrated.”

In the note, Boland urged his two security officials to keep their task under wraps. “I would like to emphasise the confidential nature of the task, which I invite you to strictly respect,”...

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