(Luxembourg, 20 April 2026) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) has filed an indictment at Iași Court against a company and its administrator for suspected fraud involving a €114,000 (RON 570,894.95) EU-funded project for research and innovation, aimed at supporting competitiveness and economic recovery.
The investigation showed that a company, represented by its administrator, obtained EU funding for a project focused on developing advanced inorganic materials (AIM). AIMs are engineered materials made from non-organic substances -such as ceramics or metals- designed for high-performance applications in areas like electronics, energy, and industrial technologies.
The project had a total budget of approximately around €2 million (RON 10.4 million) funded through the EU’s Competitiveness Operational Program (POC) 2014–2020 and administered through the Romanian Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitalisation.
According to the evidence, the defendants submitted between 2018 and 2024 false and misleading documents during the project’s implementation. Rather than pursuing the program’s objectives -such as strengthening research, innovation, and economic resilience- they allegedly aimed to unlawfully secure substantial funding. This included simulating the purchase of a software license using fabricated documentation to create the appearance of a legitimate transaction with a real supplier.
Evidence further showed that the fraudulent intent existed from the early stages of the project. The defendants relied on falsified offers from companies supposedly based in Canada to justify inflated budget estimates. Through these actions, they sought to obtain approximately €780,000 illicitly, resulting in a confirmed financial damage of about €114 000 (RON 570,894.95). The damage was later repaid in December 2022.
If found guilty, the defendants face prison sentences of up to seven years. All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Romanian courts of law.
The suspicions of fraud were reported to the EPPO by the Romanian Ministry of Investments and European Projects and mutual legal assistance was sought from the Canadian Ministry of Justice.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.