The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) reported on Thursday 10 September an increase in fraudulent activities linked to environmental projects financed by the EU budget.
OLAF reported on this development in its Annual Report, which analyses trends in 2019 in fraud against the EU budget.
Last year OLAF concluded 181 investigations (167 in 2018) and recommended to the EU authorities or Member States to recover a total of €485 million (€371 million the previous year) of funds from the EU budget.
Of the 456 investigations remaining open at the end of 2019, most concerned structural funds (88), while 74 concerned EU staff, 57 customs, 47 external aid and 42 agricultural funds.
Member States detected 45,737 irregularities in the use of structural and agricultural funds between 2015 and 2019.
OLAF notes that in recent years its investigations have “increasingly” focused on fraud linked to environmental projects or having an “environmental impact” at a time when sustainable development, the fight against climate change and the protection of the environment are “key priorities” of the EU.
OLAF has investigated the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, the trade in endangered species, illegal logging and timber imports into the EU27.
Several cases involving water and waste management were also discovered.
OLAF Director General Ville Itälä stressed that fraud in environmental projects is “doubly damaging” as it wastes not only taxpayers’ money but also the benefits that these investments were supposed to generate in the fight against climate change.
In the field of humanitarian aid, OLAF has completed an investigation in which it requested the recovery of €1.5 million intended for the provision of emergency aid to civilians in the war in Syria, a sum of money which ended up in the possession of former employees of an NGO.
Link to OLAF report: https://bit.ly/33dLXxs (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)