Today, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Iaşi (Romania) is carrying out an operation against an alleged organised criminal group, suspected of perpetrating a €1.6 million fraud involving EU and national funds designated to promote employment.
Since early this morning, 13 house searches have been ongoing, including at the homes of civil servants and at the headquarters of a private company. It is expected that 12 individuals will be brought in for questioning.
According to the investigation, which started in December 2021 with the Romanian authorities and was later taken over by the EPPO, an organised criminal group has, since 2019, set up seven fictitious companies, in order to fraudulently obtain EU and national subsidies, aimed at helping unemployed people to improve their skills and job prospects.
The evidence gathered showed that 12 individuals, living in the Bacău county, formed an organised group whose criminal activity is believed to have run from 2019 to 2022, with the intention of fraudulently obtaining non-repayable funds, co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) of the European Union, through the Human Capital Operational Programme
2014–2020.
The suspects, in their capacity of statutory or de facto company administrators, applied for and received EU and national funds to hire unemployed people, and train them as apprentices. In order to do so, they allegedly submitted inaccurate or false documents to the National Employment Agency (ANOFM: Agentia Nationala pentru Ocuparea fortei de Munca), supporting the claims for obtaining subsidies for organising the apprenticeship schemes.
In particular, they certified that the beneficiaries were unemployed, as per the conditions of the funds. However, in some cases, according to the investigation, these individuals were already employed by one of the companies involved, and had formally terminated their employment contract in order to be hired again. In other cases, they did not fulfil the conditions to be considered apprentices.
In addition, according to the investigation, the suspects also submitted false documentation certifying that they had provided the required training, which never took place.
In this manner, it is understood that the suspects hired 197 people, thus defrauding the EU and national budgets of a total of €1.67 million (85% pertaining to the budget of the European Union and 15% to Romania’s national budget).
The ongoing house searches are mobilising dozens of police officers from the Bacău Organised Crime Brigade (Brigada de Combatere a Criminalității Organziate) and the Police Inspectorate of the Bacău county (Inspectoratul Județean de Poliție), as well as the Special Operations Brigade (Brigada de Operațiuni Speciale) and the Romanian Gendarmerie (Jandarmeria Română - Gruparea Mobilă de Jandarmi Bacău).