EU Fraud Research Articles

Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan and the Protection of EU Financial Interests ‒ Enhancing the Criminal Justice System in the Age of Structural Reforms

“Reform commitments in the Italian Recovery and Resilience Plan modernize the criminal justice system and increase the effectiveness and efficiency of criminal protection against EU fraud, in line with constitutional rights and guarantees.”

Typologies of EU Fraud : Study by the National Anticorruption Directorate, Romania

Typologies of EU Fraud : Study by the National Anticorruption Directorate, Romania

The future judicial cooperation between the EPPO and third countries

The editorial focuses on the need to develop the EPPO’s role in the fight against EU fraud in relation to third countries. It gives an overview of the relevant international legal framework and of the various options that the EPPO will have at its disposal to engage in judicial cooperation with third countries under EU Regulation 2017/1939. It analyses the legal parameters that will determine the application of these modalities in practice and concludes that there may be room for having a fresh look at ways of strengthening the external role of the EPPO once it is up and running and in a position to define its external policy priorities.

PRAWNOKARNE ASPEKTY WYŁUDZENIA DOTACJI UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ

StreszczenieArtykuł podejmuje problematykę wyłudzenia dotacji z Unii Europejskiej jako istotnego rodzaju działalności tzw. „białych kołnierzyków”. Akcesja Polski do Unii Europejskiej, która miała miejsce w maju 2004 roku, spowodowała, że grupy przestępcze zyskały nowy obszar dla swojej działalności w postaci możliwości wyłudzania dotacji na szkodę interesów finansowych tej organizacji. Artykuł stanowi krytyczną analizę obecnych uregulowań dotyczących bezprawnego uzyskania wsparcia finansowego z UE. Głównym problem jest kwestia kwalifikacji prawnej czynu polegającego na wyłudzeniu dotacji. Stwierdzić należy, że do omawianej problematyki nawiązuje art. 286 § 1 k.k., art. 297 § 1 k.k. oraz art. 82 § 1 k.k.s. Autor wyjaśnił różnice oraz podobieństwa zachodzące między tymi przepisami. Analiza treści tych przepisów doprowadziła do wniosku, że obecna stylizacja norm Kodeksu karnego wymaga zmiany. W ocenie autora, dotacja powinna zostać wyłączona z katalogu instrumentów finansowych chronionych w art. 297 § 1 k.k.

Asking the Right Questions : Interviewing in PIF Investigations

The current institutional set-up to fight EU fraud is considered unsatisfactory. With the creation of the EPPO, the definition of the offences it will investigate and prosecute, and the OLAF Regulation under revision, the EU has carved out a new institutional set-up. The objective, both from an administrative (OLAF) and criminal law perspective (EPPO), is to successfully investigate fraud and corruption affecting the EU’s financial interests. In addition to institutional and legal implementing steps, it is also important to consider what needs to be put in place in order to ensure the future quality of investigations, especially from the training perspective. This article presents some observations from the operational field with regard to what is arguably one of the major tools for enhancing the quality of PIF investigations: interviewing suspects.

Book Review: OLAF at the Crossroads: Action against EU Fraud, by Constantin Stefanou, Simone White and Helen Xanthaki. (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)

Book Review: <i>OLAF at the Crossroads: Action against EU Fraud</i>, by Constantin Stefanou, Simone White and Helen Xanthaki. (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)

Constantin Stefanou, Simone White, Helen Xanthaki: OLAF at the crossroads. Action against EU fraud, studies in international &amp; comparative law: volume 7

Constantin Stefanou, Simone White, Helen Xanthaki: OLAF at the crossroads. Action against EU fraud, studies in international &amp; comparative law: volume 7

What is EU fraud? And can OLAF really combat it?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the real reasons behind the widely accepted view that the European Anti‐Fraud Office (OLAF) is not performing to its full potential.Design/methodology/approachThe approach takes the form of consideration of the main points of the regulatory framework and analysis of lacunae in the current and proposed framework.FindingsThe paper attributes ineffectiveness, in part, to the conflicting and vague regulatory framework within which OLAF is requested to operate.Originality/valueThe paper provides a list and an analysis of the main lacunae in OLAF's regulatory framework, an operation which has been neglected in the academic literature.

Concluding reflections: towards a new strategy for anti‐fraud cooperation

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the prevalence of fraud in the EU, the weaknesses of the current system in combating it, and to suggest recommendations for a more effective effort in this respect.Design/methodology/approachThe recent (post‐won) history of European fraud is chronicled and the observations of authors in this issue (JFC, Vol. 17 No. 1) are noted.FindingsEU fraud has so far received low priority in the law enforcement's hierarchy of prosecutable offences. However, it is possible, even of this late juncture, to co‐ordinate efforts effectively to pursue, detect, try, convict and punish offenders.Originality/valueThe paper, at last, makes concrete suggestions for combating EU fraud – a move long‐awaited and sorely needed.

EU Fraud: institutional and legal competence

This paper will focus on frauds committed against the budget of the European Union. It will consider the role of OLAF (the European Fraud Prevention Office) which is the lead agency in the fight against fraud. It will consider its powers and its capacity to co-ordinate the activities of anti-fraud agencies in twenty seven member states and the constraints which prevent it from operating in a more effective manner. The paper will also consider the role of other transnational bodies such as Eurojust and Europol and will seek to highlight the degree of fragmentation which exists with a multiplicity of actors involved in policing fraud, a fragmented legal approach and the difficulties this presents in policing sophisticated transnational frauds. The effect of EU expansion on this situation will also be examined and the EU anti-fraud efforts of the Czech Republic will be considered in some detail. The paper concludes that the legal system and the institutions are not yet in place to enable such frauds to be adequately policed.

OLAF: the fight against EU fraud

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider the role of the European Anti‐Fraud Office, OLAF, in the fight against EU fraud and to consider the difficulties and problems it has to contend with in attempting to carry out its mission.Design/methodology/approachThe approach adopted was to carry out a number of semi‐structured interviews with relevant officials and to review secondary materials such as reports by the European Commission, the European Court of Auditors and OLAF itself.FindingsThe paper finds a high degree of both organisational and legal fragmentation as well as difficulties caused by the personnel policies of the European Commission leading to a significant staff turnover often in the midst of complex investigations.Originality/valueIt provides an insight into the difficulties faced by OLAF such as the degree of fragmentation with a multiplicity of agencies involved in the fight against fraud and is a contribution to an area, which does not contain a great amount of academic literature.

Eu Fraud, Subsidiarity and Prospects for the IGC

Eu Fraud, Subsidiarity and Prospects for the IGC

Greece: Coping with EU Fraud

The most frequently found kinds of EU fraud in Greece, in common with other European countries, are the following three.