EU Affairs
EU's OLAF praises Malta's fraud combating efforts
By MaltaMedia News
Jul 9, 2007 - 5:44:39 PM

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).