site.btaBulgaria Ranks Third in Completed Investigations of Use of EU Funds in 2014 - OLAF

Bulgaria Ranks Third in Completed Investigations of Use of EU Funds in 2014 - OLAF
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Brussels, June 2 (BTA correspondent Nikolay Jeliazkov) -
Bulgaria ranks third among EU countries in regard to
investigations into the use of EU funds managed in whole or in
part at national or regional level concluded in 2014, initiated
by the anti-fraud office, OLAF, its annual report says.

Romania is first with 36 investigations, followed by Hungary
with 13 and then by Bulgaria with 11. In half of the cases (55
per cent) in Bulgaria, charges were raised following probes and
recommendations by OLAF.

The majority of the alerts received by OLAF from Bulgaria came
from private sources (54 alerts) and only 5 came from public
sources. The example with the SAPARD programme is cited among
the alerts received from public sources. The investigation for
fraud amounting to 7.6 million euro also covered Germany, Spain,
 Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and the United
Kingdom.

OLAF also presented its staff by nationality, topped by Belgians
 (73), while the 22 Bulgarians are among the most numerous
group, including Cvetelina, Head of the Centralised Expenditure
and External Aid Sector in the Selection and Review unit. At
OLAF, she initially worked mostly on cases involving Bulgaria's
pre-accession funds, but her proficiency in Russian proved
valuable on cases in former Soviet countries, the presentation
says.