Malta was the only member state that was not investigated by the EU anti-fraud agency last year as no fraud reports were made by the Maltese authorities or individuals on the spending of millions of euros in EU funds.
Sources close to OLAF told The Times that the fact that no reports had been made about Malta can be attributed to two main reasons.
"Either Malta is administering its funds in a superb way, meaning that all the EU funds are being spent according to EU rules and that none of the beneficiaries is abusing, or that the Maltese authorities have not managed to notice any fraud yet," the sources said.
According to the report, in 2007, the number of tip-offs received by the EU's anti-fraud office rose by eight per cent to a new high of 886.
OLAF said the increase was mostly due to the fact that it received more information from member states as well as individual informants. The report shows that OLAF had 408 active cases at the end of 2007, down from 431 at the end of 2006. During the year, 200 new cases were opened.
The investigations led to a total of €203 million being recovered last year.
OLAF focused on larger and more complex fraud cases in 2007, which it said reflected its strategy for the year.
Although no names were given due to legal reasons, non-specific examples of cases investigated by the office included plagiarism in an EU-funded research project, where the researcher copied much of the information from other sources, and a case in which a tomato grower understated the value of tomatoes imported into the EU in an attempt to evade import duties. More serious cases include the construction of a new bridge with EU money and which started crumbling within months of it being built.
About 60 per cent of OLAF's new cases in 2007 originated in five member states: Belgium (59), Italy (51), Germany (26), Romania (20) and Bulgaria (15). The large number of cases in Belgium is attributable to the number of EU institutions based there. Many of those cases were internal investigations.
The European Commission said on Wednesday it was suspending all funding for Bulgaria because of concerns about corruption and organised crime.
Sources close to OLAF told The Times that the fact that no reports had been made about Malta can be attributed to two main reasons.
"Either Malta is administering its funds in a superb way, meaning that all the EU funds are being spent according to EU rules and that none of the beneficiaries is abusing, or that the Maltese authorities have not managed to notice any fraud yet," the sources said.
According to the report, in 2007, the number of tip-offs received by the EU's anti-fraud office rose by eight per cent to a new high of 886.
OLAF said the increase was mostly due to the fact that it received more information from member states as well as individual informants. The report shows that OLAF had 408 active cases at the end of 2007, down from 431 at the end of 2006. During the year, 200 new cases were opened.
The investigations led to a total of €203 million being recovered last year.
OLAF focused on larger and more complex fraud cases in 2007, which it said reflected its strategy for the year.
Although no names were given due to legal reasons, non-specific examples of cases investigated by the office included plagiarism in an EU-funded research project, where the researcher copied much of the information from other sources, and a case in which a tomato grower understated the value of tomatoes imported into the EU in an attempt to evade import duties. More serious cases include the construction of a new bridge with EU money and which started crumbling within months of it being built.
About 60 per cent of OLAF's new cases in 2007 originated in five member states: Belgium (59), Italy (51), Germany (26), Romania (20) and Bulgaria (15). The large number of cases in Belgium is attributable to the number of EU institutions based there. Many of those cases were internal investigations.
The European Commission said on Wednesday it was suspending all funding for Bulgaria because of concerns about corruption and organised crime.