EU chief plays down missing millions

LUXEMBOURG, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The European Commission president is in damage control mode in the midst of a scandal involving millions of missing euros, a report said Friday.

The London Telegraph said Romano Prodi brushed off the findings of a damning scandal report Thursday, declaring none of his top team would resign over the disappearance of millions of euros in slush funds and fictitious contracts.

Prodi told Euro-MPs that "things went off the rails" at the European Union's data office, Eurostat in Luxembourg, but said he stood behind the three commissioners in the firing line, Spain's Pedro Solbes, Britain's Neil Kinnock and Germany's Michaele Schreyer.

"I began my term with the slogan 'Zero tolerance for fraud.' I stand by that pledge. But zero tolerance does not mean summary justice. It does not mean condemning people without a proper inquiry," Prodi said.

Investigators have tracked the disappearance of 5 million euros (USD5.7 million) of taxpayers' money into black accounts, but fear worse as they continue to comb through suspect contracts.