The European Prosecutor’s Office announced that it has filed charges against a Bulgarian dairy farmer who received funds from the EU fraudulently, BTA reported.
The accused submitted forged documents in order to be able to build a milk processing workshop with European funds. He has asked the State Fund “Agriculture” for 474,000 euros for this purpose. For the advance payment of half of the contract amount, the accused presented a bank guarantee, which was rejected by the paying agency due to non-compliance with the requirements. He later submitted more forged documents to make it appear that the necessary changes had been made. With this fraud, the accused received half of the project funds (237,000 euros). The investigation found that the EU-funded works had not been carried out.
If found guilty, the accused could be sentenced to between two and eight years in prison, the EU prosecutor’s office said.
Note: Laura Codruța Kövesi is the former chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA in Romanian), a position she held from 2013 to 9 July 2018. Prior to this, between 2006 and 2012 Laura Kövesi was the Prosecutor General of Romania, attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice. She was the first woman and the youngest Prosecutor General in Romania’s history. In October 2019, Laura Kövesi was confirmed by the European Parliament and the Council as the first European Chief Prosecutor to head the recently created European Public Prosecutor Office (EPPO), EU Regulation (EU) 2017/1939.