Last Thursday, 13 April 2023, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Ljubljana (Slovenia) sent an indictment to the District Court in Celje. The two suspects are alleged to have caused estimated damages of almost €648 000 to the EU and national budgets by fraudulently obtaining funds to finance projects for long-term social activation and labour market insertion programmes.
In May 2017, the company of the main suspect applied for funding from the Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It is understood that in the application, this suspect falsely claimed that the company they represented met all the tender requirements, and on this basis, the company was selected to develop and execute long-term social activation and labour market insertion programmes.
According to the investigation, between May 2018 and December 2019, the main suspect then filed numerous false payment claims on behalf of the company to the ministry. Moreover, they falsely declared travel expenses and costs for salaries for employees, who were not working for the company at all, or who were only partially working on the project.
The company thus illegally acquired funds totalling €647 719.31. Of this, 80% (€518 175.45) was funded by the EU, and 20% (€129 543.86) came from Slovenia’s national budget.
It is alleged that the second suspect assisted the main suspect in the committal of these criminal offences by falsely indicating that the company represented by the main suspect would implement the project in partnership with the legal entity represented by the second suspect, as it had a record of implementing similar projects. Hence, the second suspect is understood to have aided the selection of the company for funding, and the unlawful acquisition of the funds.
The two legal entities represented by the above-mentioned suspects have also been indicted for their liability for the criminal offences of fraud to the detriment of the EU, as both suspects acted on their behalf. In addition, the main suspect has been indicted for entering false data on invoices, and thus committing the criminal offence of falsification of business documents.
The EPPO’s Ljubljana office evoked this investigation from the Specialised State Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Slovenia, when it took up its activities. Prior to this, house searches had been conducted by the police in October 2019 in several locations in Slovenia.
Currently, the indictment is not final because according to the Slovenian Criminal Procedure Act (ZKP), the defence can still submit objections against it to the court.