The head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codrutsa Kovesi, was asked in Luxembourg, during a joint interview with journalists from Chisinau, present at the first EU-Moldova intergovernmental conference, whether the institution she heads has had or is managing investigations on the fraud of money obtained from EU funds by the Republic of Moldova.
“Our task is not to monitor how the country spends money. In this process, as several authorities/institutions are involved, they are obliged under the Regulation to refer the matter to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office when they observe potential fraud about the expenditure of these funds,” Kovesi said.
“We have had cases where we have worked with the Moldovan authorities on various offenses that fall under the competence of the European Public Prosecutor. I couldn’t tell you the exact number of investigations, but we have had some. In the European Public Prosecutor’s Office’s investigations, we have seen links with the Republic of Moldova, in particular, as far as I remember, some cases concerned smuggling, VAT fraud, and various types of fraud with European funds,” the European chief prosecutor added.
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It is worth noting that in other interviews, Laura Codrutsa Kovesi has said not once that there is no “corruption-free” country in the European Union. According to data from the institution’s 2023 report, published on March 1 this year, the biggest frauds investigated at the European level are in Italy, where there are almost 620 active investigations, with an estimated fraud value of €7.38 billion. It represents half of the total fraud resulting from active investigations at the European level, estimated at €19.2 billion. Almost 60% of these investigations relate to cross-border VAT fraud.