The European anti-fraud office (OLAF) opened 215 investigations in 2017 and concluded 197, according to its 2017 report, which was published on Wednesday 6 June.
Following investigations carried out over the year, OLAF recommended the recovery of more than €3 billion to the EU budget, the OLAF report states. The money recovered will be progressively paid back into the budget and be “re-attributed to projects that can stimulate growth and jobs in Europe”, the office explains.
OLAF has shown “again its capacity to detect and investigate complex fraud schemes across Europe and beyond”, a press release issued by the office states. It goes on to report that OLAF issued 309 recommendations (in the framework of the 197 investigations it concluded) aimed at the national and European authorities concerned. Despite static staff numbers and the complexity of the cases with which it is tasked, OLAF managed to reduce the duration of its investigations still further, to 17.6 months overall.
As in previous years, the structural funds sector was central to OLAF's investigative activities in 2017 (73 investigations in progress).
For the second year in a row, OLAF's report includes an analysis of some of the most striking trends revealed by its investigations: - corruption, conflicts of interest and the manipulation of tender procedures continue to be commonly encountered in fraud cases affecting EU structural funds; - fraudsters have increasingly attempted to defraud funds destined for research or the refugee crisis; - the evasion of customs duty is orchestrated through transnational criminal schemes. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)