site.btaState Fund Agriculture Sent Prosecutors 588 Alerts of Suspected Irregularities since 2011

State Fund Agriculture Sent Prosecutors 588 Alerts of Suspected Irregularities since 2011

Sofia, April 22 (BTA) - Out of a total of 3,012 alerts of suspected irregularities it has received, State Fund Agriculture (SFA) has referred 538 to the prosecuting magistracy since 2011. As many as 366 such alerts have reached the Fund since the beginning of 2016, of which 35 have been relayed to the prosecution service, SFA Director Roumen Porozhanov told an express news conference here on Friday.

Porozhanov said that SFA strictly follows all contracting, authorization and control procedures. "The key objectives in the Fund' day-to-day work include an effective prevention and suppression of irregularities, fraud and corruption. Apart from scheduled checks, checks are also conducted acting on alerts and complaints," the Director said.

SFA Anti-Fraud Directorate Director Yulian Markov said that between 550 and 600 alerts of irregularities are received at the Fund annually. The Directorate headed by Markov consists of 13 employers, of whom nine check alerts of irregularities. He said that the largest share of infringements, 51 per cent, under the Rural Development Programme (2007-2013) involve the submission of documents making potentially false statements.

In early April, State Agency for National Security officers and prosecutors checked SFA, demanding data on specific projects about which alerts of infringements and irregularities had been received. SFA admitted that there is a risk, but it is limited to 33 million euro.