The EU Public Prosecution Service warns of criminal influence on politicians. The European Commission approves the release of billions in funds for Poland

The head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), Laura Kövesi, warns that criminal organizations have too much influence on democratic structures. ‘In our procedures we see entrepreneurs, politicians or civil servants who protect criminal organizations’ she told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (Friday).

As an independent and decentralized authority, the EPPO has the power to prosecute and bring to justice crimes against the EU budget. The emphasis is on crime in which subsidies or contracts are wrongly obtained from the EU, but also on customs violations and sales tax fraud.

Kövesi also said that the scale of fraud involving EU funds had been underestimated. According to estimates by the police authority Europol, only four percent of the money obtained through crime in Europe has been confiscated so far. Germany is attractive to fraudsters. “It’s a big economy, there are a lot of companies, you can hide things well.” The number of cases also showed a good detection rate. “If we had the same level of VAT or customs fraud detection elsewhere as in Germany, the situation would be better overall.” said the head of the authority. (saw/sda/dpa)