Romania: the 2021 Activity Report marks 10 years since DLAF oversaw the correctness of spending European funds in Romania

The year 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Fight Against Fraud Department - DLAF as a structure with legal personality, within the Government’s working apparatus and under the coordination of the Prime Minister. During this period, the Department permanently reconfirmed its position as national coordinator of the fight against fraud and as a reliable partner of the European institutional actors involved in combating fraud, corruption and other illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the EU.

In 2021, the Fight Against Fraud Department - DLAF carried out a number of 294 control actions, of which 200 were finalized. In 82 cases, there were indications of fraud affecting the European Union financial interests and the criminal investigation bodies were notified.

During the reporting period, DLAF received 59 requests for technical assistance from the European Anti-Fraud Office - OLAF.

The operationalization of the EPPO on 1 June 2021, created challenges to address the procedures for investigating crimes within DLAF’s competence, in order to achieve its obligations as the competent national administrative authority. In this context, starting with 30 June 2021, DLAF has put in place the appropriate administrative instruments and has submitted a number of 18 crime reports to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). On the other hand, in the last 6 months of 2021, the Fight Against Fraud Department - DLAF has initiated preliminary investigations based on 9 EPPO complaints.

The European instruments, which entered into force in 2021, have provided an additional level of European Union budget protection through the recovery and resilience mechanism and the conditionality mechanism based on the rule of law, but also the joint responsibility of the EU and its Member States to protect the Union’s financial interests and to combat fraud. In order to fulfil the general objective of protecting the European Union financial interests, the Fight Against Fraud Department – DLAF has taken steps to ensure the cooperation with the national institutions involved in the coordination, management and control of the European funds.

In the new EU anti-fraud architecture, DLAF acts to strengthen its role, so as to provide effective guarantees for compliance with Romania's obligations under art. 325 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

More details on the activity carried out in 2021 by the Fight Against Fraud Department - DLAF can be found in the Annual Activity Report.

Background:

The Fight Against Fraud Department –DLAF is the national contact institution with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) within the European Commission and Anti-Fraud Co-ordination Service (AFCOS) in Romania. In the exercise of its powers, the Fight Against Fraud Department –DLAF performs or coordinates control actions, in order to identify irregularities, fraud and other illicit activities, in connection with the management, obtaining and use of European funds and related co-financing, as well as any other funds falling within the financial interests of the European Union.