The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced on Thursday that it indicted a Romanian citizen and a commercial company for fraud in connection with an EU co-financed Danube Delta development project, according to a statement from the office headed by Laura Codruța Kovesi, G4media reports.
This is just one of the files opened by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the Delta funds. The EPPO opened the file after a 2021 investigation by Info Sud-Est into how the €1 billion earmarked for the Delta through the ITI DD (Integrated Territorial Instrument Danube Delta) program, the largest of its kind ever granted to an EU state, was spent. The investigation revealed how the money was shared by a handful of people connected through personal relationships, business or political interests.
- Read here the investigation „Where the EU’s €1 billion for the Danube Delta went. The people controlling the money”
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office says the defendant on trial forged documents to illegally obtain €593,000 in European funds to buy heavy machinery, according to the source.
EPPO prosecutors seized real estate and heavy equipment to compensate for the estimated damage.If found guilty, the defendant faces three to 10 and a half years in prison. The firm faces penalties of up to €420,000 and confiscation.
One billion euros was shared by a handful of people connected through personal relationships, business or political interests. The money was sent from Brussels through the Danube Delta Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI DD) mechanism, with the biggest budget of all Europe’s ITIs.
The instrument was conceived by former minister Eugen Teodorovici, and the money was de facto managed by his friend Horia Teodorescu, president of Tulcea County Council. Teodorovici is currently monitoring, within the Court of Auditors, how the European money has been shared out.
Teodorescu and people around him benefited from ITI DD money. The PSD baron’s company obtained funds for a tourist establishment, but at the address of the guesthouse there is a medical clinic owned by his protégé, PSD MP Mirela Furtună, who has amassed a considerable fortune in recent years.
Although the ITI DD mechanism was intended „as a priority” for the Danube Delta, less than 15% of the projects made it there. For example, less money was invested in cleaning up lakes and canals than in renovating churches.
Former minister Eugen Teodorovici, who set up the mechanism in Romania, admits there are „certain bottlenecks and even deviations from the ITI DD strategy” and some projects are long overdue.
The head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Codruța Kovesi, spoke last year in an interview with Follow The Money about „a criminal group that used EU funds intended for the development of the Danube Delta for other projects”.
In the FTM interview, Kovesi said that the EPPO investigation started from the press article and said that prosecutors generally find it very difficult to know if a case has not been reported by the institutions because „it has not been detected or, if it has been detected, it has not been reported”.
EPPO press release:
At hand is a project to expand the activities of a company active in freight transport to include construction services through the purchase of heavy machinery, co-financed under the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020, which supports the development of the Danube Delta.
The EU and national contribution to the project represented 70.95% of the total eligible costs. In order to receive the EU contribution, the beneficiary had to certify that they had financial resources for their own contribution to the project.
However, according to the investigation, the defendant, acting in the interest and on behalf of the company, intentionally used falsified documents and statements, including a falsified bank statement, which certified that the company had the financial capacity to implement the project.
By doing so, the company is deemed to have illegally obtained approximately EUR 593 000 of EU funds (RON 2 758 669) and approximately EUR 104 000 (RON 486 824) from the national budget.
During the investigation, real estate and heavy equipment were seized to compensate for the estimated damage.
If found guilty, the defendant faces three to 10 and a half years in prison. The company faces fines of up to €420 000 and confiscation.
All persons involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the competent Romanian courts.
EPPO is the European Union’s independent public prosecutor. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and judging crimes against financial interests.
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