That’s really a very ambitious plan: Greece’s finance ministry wants to investigate whether the EU subsidies funds (NSRF) given to companies for further investment were misused or not. You know, for the usual purpose: privately…
According to Greek media, financial crimes units (SDOE) in 13 regions are due to start controls and double checks on companies that have received EU subsidies but are suspected of fraud.
Specifically, 13 Regional Directorates of Financial Crime across the country will conduct research on incentives for companies from 2004 up to today in order to determine whether the amounts allocated for development purposes were used for the personal use of the owner or even to meet salary needs of companies.
SDOE untis will investigate the life of the company, the reasons for any dissolution, possible spending the money through offshore companies and also if the companies were set up just to collect subsidies.
The issue was raised at the Parliament by several lawmakers of former Samaras’ coalition partner Democratic Left.
The investigation is to be performed in cooperation with EU’s European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The EU is apparently showing interest in the distribution and use of EU funds after the uncovering of four cases of corruption in the Ministry of Development, where the officials extorted money from investors in order to approve European Funds for their companies.
Normally the EU does not control the distribution of EU Funds “National Strategic Reference Framework -NSRF (Greek ESPA) and leaves it up to national governments.
PS They maybe even catch the guy with the shining red brand new 4×4 truck who was showing off to have bought it with EU Funds. In Pilion lol
I think we all know a lot of this sort of guys you mention. As we all also know of hotels that have been renovated or build with EU-money, operated 5 years and suddenly closed. Miraculously not to the chagrin of the owners, because more often than not, those are now nice family homes. (Re)built and decorated by NSRF-funds… Or nice training schemes for the unemployed that were, and it seems still are, rigged in such a way that you will only learn that “Greece is a free-market society” and then the money you were supposed to get is gone…
But I do not know where I could go with that knowledge…
that’s nice! decorate your home with EU Funds. Spanish jokes about similar situations in Spain are funny too.
I did not say it’s unique to Greece and it’s not even unique to Southern Europe. But here I know where to go if I am certain something like that happens. In Greece it would be suicide to try and get something done about it.