The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) is working on a new model of fraud with European funds in Bulgaria, the Interior Ministry information service said Tuesday. It has turned out that SAPARD Measure 2 - Improvement of the processing and marketing of agricultural and fishery products - is most susceptible to fraud in relation to equipment of meat-processing enterprises.

The newest method of fraud, for which OLAF has warned, is unrealistically high prices on projects. The financial difference between the real cost of importing machines for the meat-processing industry, for example, and the one extended under the project is distributed between the officials who have ensured approval, the beneficiary and the company that supplies the equipment. OLAF already has between 50 and 100 such signals from last week and these will be prioritized, the Interior Ministry said.

Other groups of fraud cases with the European funds include the classical scheme of the Stoikov/Nikolov group, whom a mid-July OLAF report, quoted by "Dnevnik", described as a "criminal network of companies composed of more than 50 Bulgarian, European and off-shore companies".

According to OLAF, the Nikolov/Stoikov group is involved in tax fraud, subsidy fraud, document forgery, money laundering, illegal import and export to Bulgaria and the EU of Chinese meat. Then again, there are cases of groups that could have connection to the fraudsters to receive approval for their projects under SAPARD. Such fraud amounting to 20 million euro was prevented after the intervention of OLAF.

About 15 to 20 cases of document forgery have been referred to the Bulgarian prosecution authorities, OLAF investigating officer Arno Heinen (name may be misspelt), who has been working on the frauds in Bulgaria, says quoted by the press release. Heinen and Interior Minister Mihail Mikov have discussed prioritized and prompt investigation of signals for mishandling of European funds.

In addition to the agreed expert assistance from OLAF for the faster execution of court orders to third countries, which usually take 4 to 6 months, Heinen recommended investigation of the consultancy firms which develop projects under SAPARD. OLAF has noticed suspicious coincidences such as three projects at identical value to be approved on one and the same day, for companies from one and the same city and with literally identical content.

Source: BTA