The European Commission and other EU institutions hesitated to send notifications of potential fraud cases to the EPPO, the prosecutor's office led by Laura Codruța Kovesi, being question marks regarding some aspects of the institution's activity, according to the Follow the Money website.
Laura Codruța Kovesi PHOTO EPA EFE
While the EPPO is stepping up its activities in countries that have accepted the new European structure, the number of cases reaching the next stages – 139 indictments in 2023 and 48 convictions – is still low, according to Follow the Money.
“When I was appointed, the estimate was that EPPO should start with 30 people and a budget of approximately 8 million euros. I said this is not possible. What do we want to do? Do we want to have a “nice” EU institution just to say we have it, or do we want to be serious and build a very strong, independent and effective institution? The budget estimate was based on statistics that were not really realistic. said that we would have around 200-300 cases per year for all EU member states. But at the specialized prosecutor's office in Romania we had around 1,500 cases per year of EU-related fraud. So, for me, it was clear that estimate was wrong I said we would have around 2,000 investigations annually“, Kovesi pointed out.
Kovesi claimed that in 2023 the EPPO processed more than 4,100 crime reports, which represents an increase of 26% compared to 2022.Not only the number of cases was underestimated, but also the level and growth of financial fraud. If we look at all ongoing investigations, the estimated damages amount to €19.27 billion (in total)“, stated Kovesi.
Different standards for different countries
According to News.ro, “these figures are indeed much higher than those notified by the Commission in the past. Kovesi sent a letter to the Secretary General of the European Commission on this issue. But in their January 4 response, which Follow the Money received, they dispute the chief prosecutor's figures and say he used different standards for different countries“.
Asked about the Commission's reaction, Kovesi pointed out that it tried to improve solutions on fraud prevention and money recovery. “Now, we have 42 offices in 22 member states and our main competence is to do these investigations and estimate the damages. We have clear internal guidelines to ensure that all our prosecutors follow the same rules. So what I would say is: don't kill the messenger. After three years of operations, we saw that the entire architecture that was put in place to prevent fraud and recover money could be improved. EPPO cannot do this. The recovery of the money is the responsibility of the Commission and the national authorities. The whole reason we sent our letter to the Commission was to point out that there is an opportunity to recover more money. In that sense, they should be pleased that I sent that letter“, Kovesi said.
Little reporting on PNRR funds
The former head of the DNA also criticized the fact that in the case of fraud with funds from the PNRR, the reporting rate from the EU institutions “was minimal”. In total, the EPPO received only seven infringement reports from the European Commission and zero from the European Parliament.
