News

(Luxembourg, 27 February 2024) – In the context of a large-scale investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), several searches, arrests and seizures took place between Saturday and Monday, in a probe into an alleged criminal association suspected of aggravated VAT fraud involving beverages and EU funding fraud.

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), over €760 000 in assets have been seized, in an investigation into fraud involving EU agricultural funding aimed at building and modernising olive oil mills.

This week, the College of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) requested an increase to the EPPO’s budget for 2024 from the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission. This is an urgent request, motivated by the impending accession of new Member States (Poland and possibly Sweden) to the EPPO, as well as the acceleration of the disbursement of NextGenerationEU funding.

Over 80 searches were conducted yesterday and three suspects were arrested, in a probe into an alleged criminal organisation suspected of a multimillion VAT fraud involving car sales, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cologne and Munich (Germany). 

Last week, at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Vilnius (Lithuania), 15 searches were carried out in several locations, as part of an investigation into the misappropriation of funds from the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund.

In a probe led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Prague (Czechia), 36 searches were conducted today and ten suspects were arrested, on suspicion of corruption involving public contracts to provide medical supplies to hospitals.

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Turin (Italy), searches were conducted yesterday in several locations and four suspects were arrested, in an investigation into a €10 million VAT carousel fraud involving tyres. 

Today, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb (Croatia) is conducting urgent searches and investigation measures, as part of the investigation into suspected subsidy fraud and corruption at the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb.

Former partner of the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, Mr Sarunas Stepukonis, who is suspected of having misappropriated €27 million from the fund, was  detained on 10 February 2024, at the request of the EPPO.