Brussels, 04/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has recently stepped up its communication activities in Bulgaria through contributions to a seminar for journalists in Sofia and a feature about the fight against fraud with EU funds on public television. Both projects were supported by OLAF experts.
"It is clear that Bulgaria can only move out of the international spotlight with the full involvement and support of the population at large in the fight against fraud affecting EU funds”, OLAF Director General Franz-Hermann Bruener declared.
During the week, OLAF representatives emphasised that, as in all member states, the prime responsibility for the fight against fraud and corruption is not with OLAF investigators, but with the national authorities. The OLAF representatives made it clear that overestimating the power of OLAF to investigate crime in Bulgaria would be a mistake and would not help in the fight against fraud and corruption. They stressed that Bulgarian citizens must realise that the fight against fraud and corruption in their country is a moral obligation for all citizens according to their respective levels of responsibility. This means that prosecutors must prosecute, judges must judge fairly and ordinary citizens must inform the authorities when they know of such crimes and say "NO" to fraud and corruption when so confronted. (L.C./transl.rh)