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Bulgaria has the highest number of new cases of abuse reports from among all EU 27 member states, shows the Annual Operational Report 2011 of EU Anti-Fraud Office OLAF.
A total of 93 new reports of cases were received by the authorities in Bulgaria in 2010, more than in any other EU member state or candidate country, out of a total of 705 such information reports for the EU 27, and 737 for the EU plus candidate countries Croatia, Iceland, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Turkey. The referrals for Bulgaria, however, have declined somewhat – from the peak of 144 in 2008 and 94 in 2009.
"The geographical breakdown of incoming information, focusing on EU member states and candidate countries, shows that a significant share of new information continues to relate to a small number of countries," says the OLAF report.
"In 2010, as in 2009, more than 60% of the incoming information concerned suspected
fraud and other illegal activities in six Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, and Spain). The trend is consistent in most countries with marked increases in 2010 in Romania, Italy and the Czech Republic and marked decreases in Belgium, Austria and Luxembourg."
At the same time, however, OLAF stresses that "it would be wrong to assume that there is more fraud in those countries with the highest occurrence of allegations forwarded to OLAF, as better cooperation can also lead to a higher number of referrals to the Office."
The EU Anti-Fraud Office points out that the majority of allegations relating to the EU institutions and bodies originate in Belgium and Luxembourg, since they are the seats of the largest European Institutions. In 2010, incoming information listed as coming from these two countries dropped by nearly half.
At the end of 2010, OLAF had 81 investigations in Bulgaria, which was at twice as many as in Italy, which had 41, the second highest number; of those 81, 61 were in agriculture.
At the same time, however, Bulgaria has a 100% conviction rate in judicial cases forwarded to member states by OLAF. This is the highest rate in the EU; however, it is probably due to the small number of such judicial cases – only 2 in 2010.
According to OLAF's Annual Operational Report 2011, the unit's investigations resulted in EUR 68 M recovered and fraudsters sentenced to 125 years' imprisonment in 2010.
OLAF handled around 500 cases in 2010, which included complex external investigations, sensitive internal investigations and multinational cases where OLAF assumed the role of coordinator, the Office said in a statement.
"It is with great pleasure that I present the positive results of our work in 2010. In the current economic climate, it is more important than ever that we make sure EU funds are used for their proper purposes and reach the intended beneficiaries," said Giovanni Kessler, Director-General of OLAF.
"We, OLAF and other Commission Services, will keep up the high pace in fighting fraud in the Member States, and maintain zero tolerance towards corruption in the EU institutions. I call on the Member States to step up their efforts. It is essential that they cooperate and take swift and decisive action to recover misused EU money and to bring the perpetrators to justice."
In 2010, OLAF opened 225 new investigative and operational cases: 150 internal and external investigations and 75 coordination and assistance cases. 189 investigative and operational cases were closed during the year. The average total duration of investigations and operations, including the assessment phase, was 27.9 months, a five-year low.
OLAF received 46% of its incoming information from the public sector at EU and Member State level. 52% came from citizens and the private sector.
Of the EUR 67.9 M recovered as a result of OLAF's cases, the highest amounts were recovered in the structural funds sector EUR 32.9 M, followed by agriculture EUR 11.9 M and direct expenditure EUR 10.6 M.
A further EUR 351.2 M has also been recovered to date in respect of financial follow-up cases which are still ongoing.
National courts sentenced fraudsters to a cumulative 125 years' imprisonment during 2010 and imposed financial penalties amounting to nearly EUR 1.47 B as a result of OLAF's cases, the EU Anti-Fraud Office explained.
Full Text of the 2011 Annual Operational Report of OLAF READ HERE
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