The European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Romania arrested three suspects last week, including two civil servants, in an investigation into a €2.2 million fraud involving EU agricultural subsidies. One of the suspects is a sheep farmer who owns a large estate in Romania.
According to the investigation, he obtained EU subsidies for pastures that were not his, using government officials to facilitate the process.
The sheep farmer employed workers to transfer pastures to his parents’ and a commercial company’s names between 2018 and 2023, in order to fraudulently obtain EU funds. Officials from the Romanian Agency for Payments and Interventions in Agriculture (APIA) are also said to have participated.
In addition, he is said to have submitted requests for forest areas that were not eligible for aid, by enlisting the help of government officials from APIA. In this way, the suspect obtained approximately €2.2 million in agricultural funds from the EU.
The European Public Prosecutor in charge of the investigation has ordered the arrest of the three suspects. In addition, eight other people have been charged, including five more government officials.