Four arrested in EU fund fraud investigation at Agriculture Payments Office in central Romanian city

Two businessmen and two employees in the Agriculture Ministry and the County Office for Rural Development Payments in the county of Brasov were arrested for alleged EU fund fraud. One of the two state employees was tasked with controlling potential fraud at the Agriculture Ministry and at the Payments Agency. The arrests came after 27 house and searches in Brasov county earlier this week. Prosecutors are researching into alleged illegal use of EU funds between 2011 and 2014. The two businessmen are believed to have bribed state employees against help for getting non-reimbursable EU funding for two farms. The prejudice was of some EUR 3 million. The businessmen used fake offers from the same producers, to increase the value of eligible expenses, as well as deposited the same amount of money to four banks consecutively, only until they received the bank statement, misleading the EU authorities into believing they had four times the real amount. editor@romania-insider.com