Police began investigating the theft of $19 million euros back in 2015. Reporters have now tracked down some of the funds.
After skimming 19 million euros from a European Union project to provide food to hungry Romanians, alleged members of an organized crime group splashed out on a luxury hotel, an expensive meal, and a designer handbag.
Reporters from OCCRP’s network first revealed the theft in 2015, the same day that Romanian anti-corruption officers raided the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA), which was responsible for overseeing the EU program.
Four suspects — two of whom prosecutors say were part of a criminal gang the police have dubbed “the Universals” — are now on trial, charged with fraud. The case is ongoing, and the destination of the stolen cash has yet to be made public.
But reporters from two OCCRP member centers –– RISE Romania and Bivol in Bulgaria –– managed to follow the trail of some of the missing funds. While prosecutors have said a total of 26 million euros went missing, reporters zeroed in on 19 million euros that was stolen through one particular contract.
The money was stolen from an EU program that provides basic foodstuffs, such as flour and oil, to the bloc’s poorest citizens. In 2012, APIA chose a company called Viem Corporation Eood as a major contractor on the aid project, which fed some 2.5 million low-income Romanians until it ended in 2020.
Unbeknownst to the EU, Viem was controlled by two alleged organized crime figures from Bulgaria. Leaked bank records show that in a single day in October 2012, Viem stole 19 million euros intended for the food aid program. The cash was then funnelled through a network of offshore companies that moved funds from Cyprus, around the world, and back to Europe.
Thousands of euros were splashed on luxury hotels, high-end dinners, and at least one designer handbag, credit card statements show. A witness told prosecutors that the money came from the corruption scheme.
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