Image
Published on
(Luxembourg, 25 April 2024) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cluj-Napoca (Romania) is carrying out searches today in several locations in Brăila County, in an investigation into a suspected €561 000 fraud involving EU agricultural funds. A civil servant’s office, three companies and four homes are being searched.
At issue is a civil servant working for the commune of Gropeni in Brăila County (Romania), who is believed to have obtained €561 000 in EU agricultural funds by forging documents in the name of an individual enterprise and a commercial company, issued by his commune. The forged documents were submitted to Romania’s Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) – Brăila County Centre in order to acquire between 270 and 427 hectares of land during the 2013-2020 period.
It is alleged that the civil servant was, in reality, the one managing the individual enterprise and the commercial company that obtained the funds, instead of his wife and son, who were named as the legal administrators.
All three individuals will be brought to the police unit’s premises for questioning, and legal measures will be ordered against them.
The searches are mobilising dozens of police officers from the Galați Organised Crime Brigade (Brigada de Combatere a Criminalității Organziate) and the Romanian Gendarmerie - Braila County Gendarmerie Inspectorate (Jandarmeria Română – Inspectoratul Judetean de Jandarmi Brăila).
The 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.