In Bulgaria, 143 investigations are being conducted on suspicion of fraud with the EU budget for a total of 492.6 million euros.
This is stated in the report of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office for 2022 announced today.
Last year, 101 of these inspections were launched, involving costs of €176.3 million. The VAT fraud audits are for €2.6 million in damages.
At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, a property seizure of 6.5 million euros was imposed. One charge was filed, 11 cases were closed without consequences, 25 were brought to trial, 19 cases were consolidated.
The checks are conducted on 204 reports received by the Bulgarian authorities. 36 of them are according to data from private individuals. 9 came from EU institutions.
A decision is awaited on one of the cases. A first-instance verdict has been handed down in one case. One court decision has been appealed. One case is pending at the second instance. One decision is final.
Most often – in 94 cases, fraud with funds paid in cases unrelated to public procurement is investigated. In second place are public procurement (45). 16 cases are for alleged corruption. 11 are for abuses.
Cases related to agriculture (42), regional development (25) and other EU programs (22) are most often investigated.
Source : Novinite
