Education

Breach of fellowship obligations

OLAF investigated allegations of absence of mobility, conflict of interest and misrepresentation concerning the Maria Skłodowska-Curie fellowship of an EU citizen at an academic institution in the United Kingdom.

OLAF established that the individual in question, a scientist, did not reside in that country and did not permanently work at the premises of the academic institution, which was in breach of the mobility obligation related to the grant.

This irregularity went unnoticed because the scientist’s supervisor was a close family relation and therefore did not record the absence. The conflict of interest was never reported to the academic institution or to the grant authority. OLAF further established that the supervisor also provided untruthful information in the grant application on behalf of the academic institution.

OLAF recommended to the European Research Executive Agency (REA) to recover the full amount of the grant of almost €200 000 from the academic institution and to initiate judicial proceedings against the individuals involved.

Schooled on Digi-fraud

OLAF investigated a digital project funded by the European Social Fund in Hungary. The primary purpose of this funding was to purchase thousands of items of digital equipment for elementary and high schools pupils and to provide e-learning training for the teachers on how to use them.

However, OLAF investigation identified several breaches in the public procurement procedure, such as giving a competitive advantage to one bidder, last minute modification of the technical specifications of the tender process and the exclusion of the lowest bid.

Furthermore, the impact of the project was lower than expected and did not constitute a good use of EU funds because more modern equipment could have been bought for the same price.

Based on the irregularities established, OLAF recommended to the European Commission to recover more than €3.6 million.

Breaking the Da Vinci Code of conduct

The investigation concerned suspected irregularities and fraud by three Polish entities implementing a number of projects under Leonardo da Vinci / Erasmus+ programmes.

OLAF established that the participants in several projects implemented by these entities did not receive vocational training as set out in the programmes but were instead sent to temporary work agencies for ordinary employment in another Member State.

OLAF also found that, although the entities were responsible for the payment of all participants’ costs (transport, insurance, accommodation and daily allowance) from the EU funds, participants received either partial payment or no payment at all.

OLAF recommended to the European Commission to recover over €1.4 million, to flag the entities in the Early Detection and Exclusion Database (EDES) and their CEOs as persons of interest, and also recommended to initiate judicial proceedings against them.