EU nations agree to new, long-term anti-fraud programs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 4:39 pm

EU member states have agreed to introduce two new wide-ranging programs as part of an international effort to crack down on serious fraud affecting national budgets.

NDWP Press Centre reports that the two programs (Hercule III and Pericles 2020) are due to run from 2014 to 2020 in order to tackle record levels of serious fraud currently plaguing national budgets. An EU spokesman has said that “as the EU is in the midst of a financial crisis, it is important that we protect our revenues and ensure EU funds go to deserving citizens”.

The programs will largely focus on eliminating serious fraud and corruption by increasing the funds available for training law enforcement bodies such as the Serious Fraud Office to combat fraudulent cross-border activities which cost member states millions of pounds a year.

Elsewhere, the Criminal Justice Act 2011 entered into force in Ireland this week in response to the near collapse of the nation’s largest banks. Originally signed into law in August, the Act makes significant changes to the current law on white collar crime and goes as far as introducing criminal sanctions for individual directors and officers convicted of corporate fraud – an unusually strong approach in global terms.

One major effect of the Act will be to allow enforcement agents to compel investors to reveal information where there are allegations of corporate fraud. Members of the Irish Parliament have, however, raised concerns that these new powers will be abused and called into question the effectiveness it will have in practice.

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