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Bratislava – At the end of last year, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) had a total of 98 active investigations in Slovakia (100 percent more than in 2023), with estimated damages to the European Union (EU) budget amounting to 681.2 million euros. Last year, 69 new investigations were launched (3.5 times more than in the previous year), representing estimated damages of 230 million euros. This follows from the EPPO’s activity report for 2024, presented by European Prosecutor Juraj Novocký, reported by TASR.
In addition to the mentioned cases, European delegated prosecutors in Slovakia handled 81 so-called assistances for their colleagues from other participating EU member states. “Each assistance involves multiple investigative steps, most commonly in the form of house searches, searches of other premises, securing evidence or proceeds from criminal activities, and interrogations,” explained Novocký. According to him, it is clear from the carried out steps that Slovak citizens and business entities based in the Slovak Republic are actively involved in the most serious forms of criminal activities, including organized so-called carousel VAT frauds.
Last year, European delegated prosecutors in Slovakia also handled 174 criminal notifications, which is more than a threefold increase compared to 2023 (55). “It is positively noteworthy that more than half of these criminal notifications came from national authorities and institutions (91),” noted Novocký.
According to the European Prosecutor, the presented statistical data indicate that under Slovak conditions, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has objectively become the leader in the field of protecting the EU’s financial interests among law enforcement authorities. Novocký also estimated that this trend will continue in the future despite the fact that the personnel state of the EPPO has remained unchanged for a long time, with only six European delegated prosecutors and two administrative staff.
As he further stated, the activities of the EPPO in Slovakia were significantly influenced by legislative and organizational changes last year. “On the one hand, we perceive positively that as a result of active negotiations with the European Commission, the EPPO can perform its functions as broadly as possible, just like in all participating EU member states. On the other hand, due to legislative changes, we had to stop criminal prosecutions in individual cases due to statue of limitations, especially in cases of corruption,” Novocký assessed.
He added that organizational changes within the police, especially the dissolution of the National Criminal Agency and the establishment of the Office for Combating Organized Crime, along with the departure of many experienced and professionally capable investigators, had a negative impact on the course of individual investigations last year, particularly on the length of the investigations. “It is essential to stabilize the personnel composition of the specialized Police Corps bodies as soon as possible, which will have a positive impact on the course and results of criminal proceedings,” concluded Novocký. (March 11)