OLAF looking forward

As the recently appointed Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), I am honoured to present this Annual OLAF Report for the period of 1 January to 31 December 2025.

While I am new to this role, OLAF itself is not new. For 26 years, since its creation in the wake of the clear call to hold EU institutions and the management of public funds to the highest ethical and financial standards, OLAF has stood as a steadfast guardian of the EU budget.

In 2025, OLAF recommended recovering €597 million and prevented €18 million from being unduly spent. The Office opened 254 new cases, concluded 209 investigations, and has 414 ongoing. Last year, nearly €1 billion in revenue was safeguarded. Over the past decade, OLAF has helped retrieve or protect about €6.8 billion. These are not just figures. They are schools built, research projects funded and borders protected. OLAF’s work is not abstract and it is not distant. It directly supports Member States and benefits citizens.

We also investigate alleged instances of wrongdoing in the EU institutions and with this mandate comes a moral obligation: EU institutions must embrace transparency. Our internal investigations remain an essential part of the EU’s accountability framework, helping ensure that members and staff of the institutions comply with the highest standards of professional conduct and financial integrity. Independence, access to relevant information and the ability to carry out inspections on premises are indispensable for OLAF to fulfil this task.

The European anti-fraud landscape is evolving, notably with the creation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which has successfully addressed a critical gap in criminal prosecutions. However, we cannot fix the system just by prosecutions—citizens also want misused funds recovered and returned to the EU budget. OLAF plays a crucial role here. Increasingly fraudsters operate across borders, exploit digital tools and adapt quickly. So must we. Through the ongoing review of the EU’s Anti-Fraud Architecture (AFA), we are actively contributing to create a system that is fit for purpose. In this context, the OLAF Regulation has been evaluated and might be reviewed at the same time as the legal bases of some of our anti-fraud partners. This is a unique opportunity to assess and possibly recalibrate both our day-to-day cooperation, as well as our underlying mandates. 

In 2025, OLAF implemented new AI tools to enhance investigations. They help detect fraud-related communications in large data sets, anonymise reports, and manage case documents. OLAF also pioneered digital collaboration by hosting the first Technical Workshop on digital anti-fraud tools in Bucharest. Investing in AI and data analytics is vital for staying one step ahead of fraudsters, while our cross-border experience enables us to connect the dots between Member States, institutions and sectors in ways others cannot.

This added value was visible in 2025. OLAF played a key role in supporting a coordinated crackdown on a counterfeit cigarette network operating between Italy and Romania. In Ireland, our intelligence contributed to the seizure of over 4,000 illegally imported e-bikes that had circumvented customs duties, while in Ukraine, we played a key role in uncovering massive underground pesticide production resulting in the confiscation of more than 175 tons of counterfeit agrochemicals as well as raw materials for their production. Other important investigations are detailed in this report. In each case OLAF collected information from multiple jurisdictions and coordinated with partners to ensure that EU financial interests were protected.

As new challenges continued to emerge, OLAF provided concrete, tangible operational support, including preventing the circumvention of EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus, where our analysis of trade flows and supply chains led to the detection of several schemes rerouting restricted goods through intermediary countries.

Our work goes beyond investigations. Prevention is equally important. In 2025, OLAF experts delivered specialised training to Ukrainian customs and law enforcement authorities, with CEPOL we provided advanced anti-fraud intelligence training, and, as every year, contributed to the Commission’s annual report on the protection of the EU’s financial interests (so-called PIF report). We also worked closely with the EPPO in complex cases such as the 'Operation Calypso', contributing our expertise and cross-border analysis to complement criminal proceedings.

In the last 15 years OLAF has lost 110 permanent positions, representing almost 10% of its total staff. Yet, despite the cuts in resources, the Office remained stable, professional and result driven. For every euro invested in OLAF, over nine times that amount has been returned to the EU budget. This is thanks to the dedication of staff, whose expertise and integrity are the backbone of this Office.

I would like to congratulate and thank Ville Itälä for his leadership of OLAF over the past seven years, and Salla Saastamoinen for her steady guidance as Acting Director-General. Their work has strengthened this Office and laid solid foundations for the future.

This is a new chapter — but our mission remains the same. We will continue to act with independence, professionalism and determination to protect the financial interests of the European Union and the trust of its citizens.

Thank you
Petr Klement