Romania’s National Anti-Corruption Directorate has undertaken the project on ‘Increasing the efficiency of investigations in complex cases of fraud and corruption against the financial interests of the EU’. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) has co-financed the project through the HERCULE III Training program. The project’s objective is to improve the efficiency of fraud and corruption investigations in the EU through two means. Firstly, by using modern IT techniques. Secondly, by enhancing inter-institutional cooperation at national and international levels. As a step towards realizing this objective, Romanian authorities organized a national workshop and an international conference in 2021.
The national workshop was on ‘Managing cases of fraud against the EU’s financial interests: Modern techniques and methods in financial investigation’. This workshop took place in hybrid format during June 9-11, 2021. Various stakeholders, including prosecutors, judicial police officers, experts and representatives of national institutions took part in the workshop. Meanwhile, the international conference on ‘Facilitating the exchange of good practice between EU authorities in managing complex cases of fraud against the EU’s financial interests: Use of modern investigative techniques’ was organized virtually during November 18-19, 2021. Representatives of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), OLAF and Europol participated in the conference. Additionally, 130 prosecutors and investigators from 14 EU member states took part in the conference. These included Romania, the UK, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Egypt, Kenya, Palestine and Sri Lanka.
At the conference, representatives of OLAF, Europol, the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office, the Italian Guarda di Finanza, EPPO and the UK National Crime Agency gave presentations on IT solutions and tools used in complex financial analysis. The conference also hosted discussions on the investigative challenges in the cryptocurrency sector. Several Romanian agencies also took part in the discussions that facilitated information-sharing between EU Member States and other countries. Together, these events have enabled the inter-institutional and international exchange of ideas and good practices related to complex financial investigations.