News

The EPPO filed its first indictment in Czechia yesterday, 28 June 2022, against 3 persons and 3 legal entities accused of subsidy fraud, damage to the financial interests of the European Union and the legalisation of proceeds of criminal activity. The file consists of almost 19 000 pages.

Twenty-two individuals, including high-level public officials, are suspected of fraud regarding agricultural funds in Sicily. At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), officers of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Palermo carried out a judicial warrant this morning, 28 June 2022: 12 suspects were placed under house arrest, and 10 are obliged to appear before the judicial police. Money and assets worth approximately €2.5 million were preventively seized.

Today, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) moved against an organized criminal group active in Romania and Austria. Since early this morning, 160 house searches are ongoing, including at the homes of some civil servants and headquarters of public institutions, as a part of an ongoing investigation of 6 months into alleged fraud concerning European and Romanian funds of more than €5 million, laundered through a complex financial mechanism. About 30 people will be brought in for questioning.

Three Latvian citizens have been convicted before Riga’s Vidzeme District Court for fraud committed in a procurement process for the construction of two high tunnel greenhouses, subsidised by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). It is the first conviction in Latvia since the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) started its operations.

Last week, an investigation of the Vilnius office of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) led to arrests of 15 suspects and more than 50 searches in Lithuania, carried out by the Special Investigation Service STT (Specialiųjų tyrimų tarnyba). The suspects were allegedly involved in an illicit enrichment worth at least €250 000 and linked to a public procurement procedure funded by the European Union (EU).

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Italy and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the aim of facilitating their cooperation related to suspicious financial transactions.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Lithuania is leading a pre-trial investigation into the possible lack of transparency in an EU-funded public procurement for street lighting in the municipality of Šiauliai. The investigation is carried out by the Special Investigation Service (STT).

On 23 May, we commemorated thirty years since the assassination of Giovanni Falcone in Palermo. A lot has already been said and written about this brave man and outstanding prosecutor. He came to symbolise the many other magistrates, police officers, civil servants, journalists and activists who did not give in to fear, and who lost their lives in the fight against organised crime.

The first year of operations of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) shows that it is working well: 4006 crime reports registered and analysed, 929 investigations opened and €259 million (more than four times the EPPO’s annual budget) of freezing orders granted. Nevertheless, challenges remain, the most important one being the low level of detection of EU fraud.