Agriculture : EPPO: Romania: Six indicted for €1.7 million fraud involving irrigation systems

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Iasi (Romania) brought charges against four individuals and two companies for aggravated subsidy fraud and forgery of private documents in an investigation into a €1.73 million fraud involving projects for irrigation systems, entirely funded by the EU, https://www.eppo.europa.eu/ informs.   As previously reported, the investigation looked into an agricultural cooperative which obtained funding for two projects to modernise irrigation systems, worth €1.73 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 wife of de facto manager of the cooperative.    The investigation revealed a conflict of interest in the funding of the two projects. The de facto manager of the cooperative which received the funds, was married to the representative of the company that won the contract. Additionally, a person who chaired the cooperative’s tender evaluation committee was simultaneously working as an accountant for the bidding company.    In an attempt to mislead Romania’s Agency for Financing Rural Investments (AFIR), the legal representatives of both the cooperative and the selected company submitted false documents falsely claiming there was no conflict of interest. Furthermore, the representatives of the cooperative requested and obtained from AFIR the reimbursement of contractor expenses, by submitting several false payment orders claiming that they already paid the contractors.   In order to recover the damage to the EU budget and any judicial expenses, the EPPO seized six plots of lands (worth approximately €500 000) and froze bank accounts held by the suspects.   Under Romania’s Criminal Code, aggravated subsidy fraud is punishable with up to 10.5 years of imprisonment, and up to three years for forgery of private documents. The two companies, if convicted, could receive a penalty fine up to approximately €420.000 (RON 2.1 million), in addition to complementary penalties.   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.?