Extortion of EU funds prevented by the CBA
Five individuals, who fraudulently obtained over PLN 15 million of EU funds, have been detained by the CBA. The officers have also thwarted the extortion of further PLN 5 million. This is a new investigation conducted by the Bureau.
The officers of the Regional Office of the CBA in Białystok have detained five individuals operating as part of an organised crime group involved in EU funds extortion. The activities were carried out on the territory of the following voivodships: Warmia-Mazury, Śląsk, Wielkopolska and Małopolska. At the same time, six locations related to the detainees were searched.
The detainees are members of an organised crime group who, acting in a planned manner, were fraudulently obtaining public funds appropriated for research and development projects. The financial support was obtained from the EU budget under the European Regional Development Fund.
All findings indicate that the criminal activities consisted in the submission of applications for EU support which attested an untruth to intermediary institutions dealing with EU funding allocation. The documents submitted inflated the value of the development projects carried out, in particular by inflating the value of the purchased machines.
In the course of the proceedings, it was established that in this way the amount of more than PLN 15 million was extorted. The CBA and the prosecutors’ operation has thwarted further extortion of PLN 5 million.
The detainees will be taken to the Podlasie Local Division of the National Prosecutor's Office in Białystok, where they will be presented with charges of participation in
the criminal activities of an organised crime group and extortion of public funds.
These are the first detentions in this investigation.
Public Relations Division of the CBA
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