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Date: 10/01/02
Much of OLAF's work fails to make headlines because it is kept confidential. However, it has gone public with several of its investigations
David Cronin looks back at some of the probes that made the news
- Bananas: Joint checks by OlAF with the Belgian and Italian authorities during 2000 revealed widespread falsification of documents required to import bananas from South and Central America into Europe. An estimated 160,000 tons of the fruit were imported using false certificates in a bid to qualify for reduced customs duties between early 1998 and mid-2000, according to the investigators.
- Malaysian denim: This probe found that a German-based importer had 'undertaken a systematic assault on the [European] Community's import restrictions' by giving the wrong origin and value of denim jeans and some other items of clothing from Malaysia. Increased surveillance of the principal suspect led to him fleeing Europe - but not before he had managed to defraud banks and public institutions of more than €60 million.
- Spanish flax: Perhaps the most controversial of all the probes so far conducted by OLAF, this centred on reports that EU subsidies may have been abused to encourage a surge in the amount of flax grown in Spain from 185 hectares to 91,400 hectares between the early and late 1990s. Loyola de Palacio, now EU transport commissioner, was the country's agriculture minister for part of that period.
Although she has been cleared of any wrongdoing, OLAF has found that fraud definitely occurred in the linen sector. This has caused the Commission to take the unusual step of demanding that €126 million paid to flax growers be returned to Brussels.
- Slovak aid: OLAF's investigation focused on allegations that
€40 million of the EU's €140 million-a-year pre-accession aid to Slovakia was embezzled. The claims sparked a furore in Bratislava. They have led to the resignation of a senior government official, a temporary freeze in major EU funding for the country and promises by Slovak ministers that they will introduce far-reaching reforms.
- Cigarette smuggling: A key priority for OLAF is examining claims that an international smuggling racket is depriving the EU of millions of euro in VAT revenue. Evidence it has gathered is being used by the European Commission in unprecedented legal action against US tobacco giants.
- Adultered butter: OLAF became involved in this investigation after a 1999 murder inquiry by Italian police uncovered a network of mafia-linked companies, which had produced around 160,000 tonnes of fake butter (using oils and chemicals) over a three-year period. Churned out in the Naples region, the butter was then sold to biscuit and ice-cream manufacturers in France, Italy and Belgium and perhaps further afield.
The total cost of the butter amounted to €48 million. The fraud ring appears now to have been smashed, following the arrests of 30 people believed to have links with the Camorra - as the Neapolitan mafia are known.
Article looks at some of the investigations carried out by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
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