Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) carried out searches on Tuesday at a hospital and a county council in Romania’s Muntenia region as part of an inquiry into suspected €4 million procurement fraud involving EU funds.
The investigation centres on a project to buy medical equipment and supplies intended to reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections, funded through the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, EPPO announced on Wednesday.
Seven searches were carried out in total — including at companies, public authorities and the homes of suspects — to collect physical and electronic evidence.
Prosecutors believe the project budget may have been artificially inflated by manipulating the estimated value of equipment, and said around 70 quotations used to support the budget were not authentic.
How the case reached EU prosecutors
The case was initially referred to the EPPO by Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate.
The EU’s anti-fraud office OLAF later submitted a notification report on suspected fraud and provided operational analysis to support the investigation.
The searches were carried out with assistance from Romanian police units and the Special Intervention Brigade of the Romanian Gendarmerie.
All those concerned are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in Romanian courts, according to the EPPO.
