According to OLAF, the European anti-fraud office, Denmark was implicated in 66 fraud cases involving applications for EU funds in 2013. The combined total of the cases came to 19 million kroner, reports Metroxpress.
The OLAF report also states that the number of similar fraud cases within the EU nearly tripled from 2012 to 2013.
”The responsibility for this increase lies especially with four member states – Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy and Romania – who account for 75 percent of all the fraud-related irregularities in 2013,” says the report.
The bad student in the classroom
All the fraud cases in Denmark are related to agricultural subsidies.
”We have ended up as the bad student in the classroom,“ Enhedslisten MP Nicolai Villumsen complained to Jyllands-Posten.
“The food minister must immediately answer how he is going to clean up this swindle, which is unfortunately also damaging to the environment.”
Cheating Danish farmers
According to the nature and business authorities, Natur- og Erhvervsstyrelsen, in all of the 66 cases, Danish farmers were guilty of presenting fraudulent figures.
”The investigation is not complete yet. New cases are still popping up, ” Hans Jørgen Langfrits, the head of Natur- og Erhvervsstyrelsen, told Metroxpress.
”More than 100 farmers are involved.That’s why the statistics have bobbed up so drastically.”
In the period from 2009 to 2013, Denmark recorded 118 cases of fraud, which is more than 15 times more than, for instance, Sweden during the same time period.
