| schema:articleBody
| - The launch of a European prosecutor's office to root out fraud in EU spending has been undermined by delays, even as Brussels prepares to dole out billions in coronavirus recovery funds. The first European Public Prosecutor, Romania's former anti-corruption chief Laura Codruta Kovesi, was sworn in last month along with 22 prosectors from the EU member states participating in the programme. But her mission, initially supposed to begin in November, is on hold while her office seeks to recruit 140 more investigators to lead investigations from within participating member states. These on-the-ground prosecutors will be supervised by Kovesi's Luxembourg-based team. Work cannot begin without them and many practical difficulties remain. "Until we have those prosecutors, we can't all start the activity," Kovesi told AFP in an interview, explaining that member states must submit candidates. Some of the capitals that have agreed to take part in the programme have already adapted their domestic laws to allow prosecutors to join Kovesi's EU team. But others are still drafting laws, and Kovesi -- who often found herself in conflict with her own government in Romania -- wants to ensure her people are truly independent. EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders shares the new prosecutor's concerns. "My hope is that we start this year," the Belgian former foreign minister told AFP, adding that the team must be ready to go as soon as the delayed 2021-2027 EU long-term budget is mobilised. "We are going to spend more money more quickly and more flexibly," he said. "We need an efficient investigation and prosecution tool at European level all the more, because the risks of fraud and financial crime surrounding the budget are much greater." The imminent deployment of the EU's coronavirus recovery package and the Commission's seven-year budget will trigger a flood of cash towards member state governments with struggling economies. But Kovesi warns that her team will need more funding of its own if it is to counter the risk that stimulus funds will be stolen or diverted into political projects and allies of EU leaders. The prosecutor told AFP that the European Commission had assigned 37.7 million euros to her office in 2021, while she estimates she will need at least 55 million. "What is missing? It's the staff here in Luxembourg at central level," the 47-year-old magistrate said. "We don't have enough legal advisers to help the college and to help the prosecutors in their investigation." Kovesi wants a high-level financial investigation team in Luxembourg to "connect all the dots" and track funds through bank accounts while the field prosecutors pursue criminal probes in member states. "We are still missing around 80 positions," she said, arguing the expenses of the European Public Prosecutor's Office represent "peanuts" compared with the money it will save in fraud prevented. Reynders met the college of prosecutors on Thursday and on Friday held a videoconference with member state justice ministers. But he told AFP that Kovesi's mission might have to get under way as it is while the European Parliament and member state governments consider her requests. "It's the only way to prove the need," he argued. Kovesi's reputation for independence was reinforced when Romania's government, still smarting from her investigations, opposed her nomination to the European role. Kovesi said she was not involved in selecting candidates for the college of prosecutors, but "my main job is to be sure that all the prosecutors ... will be independent and they will work independently." Unlike the current bodies for combating fraud and cross-border crime, Eurojust and OLAF, the European Public Prosecutor's Office will be able to carry out criminal investigations on the basis of complaints lodged with it. It can prosecute and seize assets and has jurisdiction over fraud involving more than 10,000 euros in EU funds, VAT fraud over 10 million euros, money laundering, corruption and organised crime. Kovesi said the EU lost between 30 and 60 billion euros a year to white-collar crime, and that she intended to "recover a large part of it". ps-alm/dc/pdw/jxb
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)