The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) Director General
Franz-Hermann Brüner praised Malta
for its efforts to combat fraud and protect the financial interests of the European
Union.
Mr Brüner spoke on
Monday while presenting OLAF’s Annual Activity Report in Brussels, illustrating the office’s work,
inside and outside of the EU.
Mr Brüner said that OLAF’s “co-operation with the Maltese
Police is excellent and highly efficient” and “The Maltese Customs also
cooperates with OLAF in a highly excellent and efficient manner. In particular,
the Maltese Customs is an invaluable partner in the fight against cigarettes
smuggling. Malta
informs OLAF about each significant consignment of smuggled cigarettes”.
Mr. Brüner concluded that “intelligence is an important tool
in the common fight against smuggling of cigarettes”.
On an EU Level, at the end of 2006 OLAF was investigating a
total of 431 cases. While the preventive effect of OLAF’s action cannot be
measured in figures, during 2006 more than Lm 193 million (€450 million) were
recorded as recovered in the context of OLAF cases. The total financial impact
of all cases investigated by OLAF since its creation in 1999 is estimated at
over Lm 3.1 billion (€7.3 billion).
%20Director%20General%0AFranz-Hermann%20Br%26%23252%3Bner%20praised%20Malta%0Afor%20its%20efforts%20to%20combat%20fraud%20and%20protect%20the%20financial%20interests%20of%20the%20European%0AUnion%20(EU).%0A%0A%26nbsp%3B%0A%0A%3Cp%3E%0A%0AMr%20Br%26%23252%3Bner%20%26nbsp%3Bspoke%20on%0AMonday%20while%20presenting%20OLAF%26%238217%3Bs%20Annual%20Activity%20Report%20in%20Brussels%2C%20illustrating%20the%20office%26%238217%3Bs%20work%2C%0Ainside%20and%20outside%20of%20the%20EU.%0A%0A%3C%2Fp%3E&topic=world_news){kind=link}