Fraud in figures

Results of OLAF’s work

As a result of the 3 500 investigations OLAF has completed since it was set up in 1999:

• 335 individuals have received prison sentences totalling 900 years
• over €1.1 billion of EU money has been recovered (excluding financial penalties)
• on average OLAF has recovered €100 million a year.

Results for 2010:

• €68 million recovered for the EU budget
• €770 million in the process of being recovered ( as part of financial follow-up)
• 30 individuals sentenced to a total of over 70 years' imprisonment – including some suspended sentences.

How much does OLAF cost EU tax payers?

• OLAF's running costs for 2011 amount to €58 million
• OLAF is also providing €24 million in grants and project funding to help authorities and organisations fight fraud both inside and outside the EU. 

How many people are involved in fighting fraud in the EU?

• EU countries manage 80% of EU funds and have primary responsibility for fighting fraud. They employ most of those involved in this fight for example 500 000 police officers.
• OLAF has 500 staff – of which around two-thirds work on fraud investigations. 

What is OLAF's case load?

• OLAF had 493 open investigations at the end of 2010.
• OLAF opened 225 new investigations and closed 189 in 2010.
• Average length of an investigation fell by 10% to 22.6 months in 2010 – down from 25.1 in 2009.

How much fraud is committed in the EU?

EU countries reported:

• irregularities costing €1.8 billion (1.27% of total EU expenditure) in 2010 –  compared with €1.5 billion (1.13%) in 2009
• suspected fraud costing €478 million (0.34% of total EU expenditure) in 2010 –  compared with €181 million (0.13%) in 2009
• cohesion funds accounting for €1.5 billion of irregularities and €364 million of suspected fraud in 2010 – a sharp increase on the previous year due to the cyclical nature of recovery in this sector
• recovery rates varied between 37% and 67% depending on the budget sector – with a total recovery of €1 billion in 2010.