Ever since its establishment in 2002, the National Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office (PNA) has received notification from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of 27 cases of embezzlement of non-repayable EU funds in Romania.
Six cases saw the culprits brought to justice, said Adrian Miclescu, PNA assistant general prosecutor.
The only name the prosecutor mentioned was that of the former director within the European Integration Ministry, Georgeta Marineata, who was sentenced to three years in prison for trafficking influence. This is an old case, extensively covered by the media. The fact that the PNA prosecutor would not provide details on the other cases somewhat goes against the promise of this office to be completely open and transparent about all the cases it investigates. Miclescu argued the other five cases were currently in progress. The five cases concern the change of destination of EU funds.
The official added that investigations in 17 other cases led to the recovery of 157,000 euros but did not provide further details. His explanations did not make it clear whether this money went back to Brussels as required by the EU legislation when an instance of fraud is uncovered.
The statements of the PNA prosecutor were made only one day after the IRSOP institute went public with a poll, which showed a significant proportion of Romanians were very suspicious about the propriety of allocation and use of the non-repayable funds granted by the EU. The poll, commissioned by the European Commission Delegation revealed that 59% of average Romanians, 73% of SME representatives and 43% of NGO representatives said that fraud was a frequent occurrence in the process of managing European funds. It could be noted that the European Commission Delegation's charge d'affaires, Giorgio Sicarrelli touched a sensitive subject: the proportion of SME representatives doubting the correct use of the said funds was much higher, precisely because they are the ones who draw up plans to obtain such funds. They are therefore in direct contact with any corruption within the system, more frequently than any other category.
The possibility of fraud existing in the system was confirmed by the general manager of the SAPARD Agency Gheorghita Corbu during a seminar titled "Transparency in the spending of non-repayable European funds" on Tuesday. He says that as soon as the control and anti-fraud office within the Agency was created, 163 of 231 cases deemed as suspicious by various institutions turned out to involve conflicts of interests.
The European Commission's attention to the SAPARD programme is only natural, because SAPARD is the only programme Romania benefits from which is entirely managed by the Romanian authorities, with the Union retaining only a control function. It is almost a dress rehearsal in preparation for the management of the European funds that will need to be managed after accession.
iulian.anghel@zf.ro
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