OREANDA-NEWS. June 04, 2015. In 2014, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) achieved excellent results in the fight against fraud across Europe. OLAF completed a high number of investigations while continuing to reduce their overall duration.

It issued a record number of recommendations in over five years. The Office recommended the recovery of EUR 901 million, which should progressively return to the EU budget and help fund other projects. "OLAF's mission is to detect, investigate and stop fraud involving EU funds. Our work delivers concrete results. It ensures that EU taxpayers' money is used for the purpose for which it was originally intended, creating jobs and growth in Europe" said the OLAF Director-General, Mr Giovanni Kessler, at a press conference today.

"The results of our investigative activity in 2014 confirm the strong performance reported by OLAF last year. We have concentrated on those cases where our intervention is most needed and can bring real added value – on complex investigations in areas such as structural funds, customs, smuggling, trade and external aid. These cases will contribute to substantial recoveries to the EU budget."

The full text of the press release and of the OLAF Report 2014 is available in several languages here: OLAF general headlines and OLAF Report page.