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EPPO filed a lawsuit against a Slovak company for damaging the EU’s financial interests

by AI | 22.Nov 2024 | Europe in brief AI

A Slovak EPPO prosecutor accuses a Slovak individual and a company of damaging the financial interests of the EU.

The Slovak EPPO prosecutor filed a lawsuit against a Slovak citizen and a company for misuse of the EU's financial interests - Photo: TASR

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Bratislava – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bratislava filed an indictment with the Specialized Criminal Court (ŠTS) against one individual and one company in the criminal proceedings for the crime of damaging the financial interests of the European Union (EU) and document forgery related to obtaining grants for beer production. This was announced on Friday by the European delegated prosecutor Martin Pacalaj from the EPPO Office, informs TASR.

Pacalaj specified that the accused individual, who was the managing director of the accused company, applied in April 2021 for a non-repayable financial contribution of 192,338 euros, which was fully funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for beer production.

The investigation concluded that the accused submitted a forged statement to the Ministry of Economy (MH) of the Slovak Republic on August 26, 2021, during the process of approving the application for the non-repayable financial contribution. This statement falsely confirmed that the beer production line was not subject to environmental impact assessment (EIA), a process that could significantly delay approval or lead to rejection.

The prosecutor added that the forged statement was produced by another criminally responsible person acting on behalf of another business company, both of whom have already been convicted in separate proceedings. By submitting the fake document, the accused bypassed the conditions of the call and fraudulently sought approval of the non-repayable financial contribution application, thereby undermining the integrity of the funding approval process and disregarding fundamental environmental safeguards.

Pacalaj noted that according to the Criminal Code of the Slovak Republic, the accused individual faces a prison sentence of up to six years if found guilty of damaging the financial interests of the EU and forgery of a public document. Additionally, a financial penalty of up to three million euros can be imposed. Similarly, the accused company can be fined up to 1.6 million euros and may be banned from receiving aid and support provided by EU funds for a period of up to ten years.

Pacalaj reminded that all accused individuals are considered innocent until proven guilty in the relevant Slovak courts.

EPPO is an independent EU prosecution office based in Luxembourg. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing charges against perpetrators of crimes against the financial interests of the EU. (November 22)

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