EC Report: 81% Of Pre-Accession Fund Fraud Cases Reported In Romania, Bulgaria

„In 2009, 706 newly detected irregular cases with an affected amount of EUR117 million were reported by the national authorities in 14 reporting countries,” says the press release.

The report records an increase of 35% in the number of cases.

„Bulgarian and Romanian irregularities together make up 81% of cases and 93% of irregular amounts reported in 2009. Yet, the rising tendency is only applicable to Bulgaria, with an increase of 134 % in cases,” says the press release.

According to the report, „five member states (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) and Turkey reported suspected fraud cases in 2009. The number of cases of suspected fraud was 262, with a financial impact of EUR57 million.” „The highest number of suspected fraud cases was reported by Bulgaria,” says the press release, noting that fraud cases concerning SAPARD funds accounted for 67% of all cases from this country. Furthermore, „Bulgarian SAPARD cases account for 92 % of all SAPARD suspected fraud in 2009 reported to [the European Anti-Fraud Office].”

The data comes from the European Commission’s annual report on the protection of the European Union’s financial interests and the fight against fraud.

According to the report, „the number of reported cases of irregularities in the areas of own resources and direct expenditure fell significantly in 2009 compared to 2008. In other areas, such as agriculture, cohesion policy and pre-accession funds, however, there was a general rise in the number of reported irregularities, including suspected fraud cases. This can be due to a number of factors. Often, it can be an indication that the controls and anti-fraud systems in place are working better and that more cases are being reported. Under EU legislation, all errors found in relation to EU funds have to be corrected and funds must be recovered if not used according to the rules.

The protection of EU financial interests and the fight against fraud goes beyond European borders, and the Commission is active in pushing for further international cooperation in this area. Some of the measures highlighted in today’s report include international negotiations on anti-corruption and anti-fraud agreements, intensive work to tackle cigarette smuggling and the deployment of a new database to help prevent and detect breaches in agriculture and customs legislation which could affect EU revenues.”