OLAF signs cooperation agreement with Spanish General Council of Notaries

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the General Council of Notaries of Spain (CGN) have signed a cooperation agreement on fighting fraud, corruption and other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the European Union. The agreement provides OLAF with direct access to the data sources of the CGN’s Centralized Body for the Prevention of Money Laundering (OCP), a body designated to strengthen and intensify the fight against money laundering.

These data sources include information on the deeds and public acts authorized by the more than 2,800 Spanish notaries; on the beneficial owners of over 2.5 million entities (commercial, non-commercial and foreign entities); and on nearly 25,000 persons who hold public responsibility by election or designation as well as related family members or individuals with professional and commercial ties and any companies that they may own.

The cooperation between OLAF and the CGN strengthens the fight against fraud affecting the money of EU taxpayers. This direct access to information provides OLAF with valuable, official data for its investigations, directly at source. For example, a pattern often used by fraudsters is to try to hide their traces behind intricate schemes of companies and corporate entities. Access to data makes it easier for OLAF to work through these schemes and identify the real owners of companies suspected of fraud with EU funds, even in the case of complex corporate structures.

For more information, please see the press release issued by the Consejo General del Notariado.