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(Luxembourg, 17 April 2024) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Iași (Romania) conducted eight searches today in the Galați county, in an investigation into a €1.7 million fraud involving projects for irrigation systems, funded by the EU.
At issue is an agricultural cooperative which obtained funding for two projects to modernise irrigation systems, worth €1.7 million (RON 8.6 million). However, according to the investigation, the public procurement procedure to select a company to execute the projects was manipulated, in order to benefit a pre-determined company, owned by the mother of one of the members of the cooperative.
It is understood that legal representatives of the cooperative and the selected company submitted false documents certifying that the beneficiary of the funds was not in a conflict of interest with the company that was awarded the contract, thus misleading Romania’s Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR).
During today’s searches, some of the people under investigation were brought to the EPPO in Iași to be informed of their status as suspects. Three suspects were placed under judicial control for sixty days, with interdiction to contact other parties in the process, as well as mandatory periodical presentation in the police station of their place of residence.
In order to recover the damage to the EU budget and any judicial expenses, the EPPO also seized six plots of lands (worth approximately €500 000) and froze bank accounts held by the suspects.
This investigation mobilised dozens of police officers from the EPPO Support Structure in Romania (Structura de Sprijin a procurorilor europeni delegați in România), the Economic Crime Investigation Service within Galați County Police Inspectorate (Serviciul de Investigare a Criminalității Economice din cadrul Inspectoratului Județean de Poliție Galați) and the County Gendarmerie Inspectorate Galați (Inspectoratul Județean de Jandarmi ‘Dunărea de Jos’ Galați).
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (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.