The big trouble

• The POSDRU program in danger of being halted

• Hints of fraud worth 28.88 million Euros on European funds, after the investigations of the DLAF in 2011

It was to be expected that fraud would appear in an area where we are dealing with 0grants0.

The bad thing is that there have been top-ranking officials speaking about the corruption in attracting European funds.

This month, Prime Minister Victor Ponta said that Romania might lose 1.2 billion Euros, of the European Funds afferent to the Sectoral Operational Program for the Development of Human Resources (POSDRU), following the finding of serious irregularities in the program between 2010 and 2011. According to the official, the 100 million Euros afferent to this year and 1,1 billion Euros for 2013 represent all the payments pertaining to the POSDRU.

The head of the government has presented data from an audit of the POSDRU, which he received 0via unofficial channels0. According to it, out of the total two billion Euros which Romania has available as part of this program, only 6% was settled, with 2,500 contracts being signed. Victor Ponta emphasized that there are serious discrepancies when it comes to the evaluation of the projects and the manner of audit and said that he has notified the Anti-Fraud Department (DLAF) and that the executive will try to implement a program of actions to avoid losing the European funds, the PM said. He went on to say that if the program isn't implemented by the end of the year, he will decide on a "radical" measure of total restructuring of the Authority for the management of the POSDRU, including at the risk of having to apply again for accreditation.

The head of the Government said that the main irregularities were found at the Management Authority of the POSDRU, of the Ministry of Labor, as well as on the Intermediate Body of the Ministry of Education. The Prime Minister also mentioned the fact that in certain programs, a lot of people in the public and private sector earned salaries ranging between 3,500 and more than 10,000 Euros a month.

One such example of irregularity presented by the authorities was that lifeguards were not trained at the seaside.

Another example mentions the fact that the same project was presented in the same format several times to 20 intermediate bodies, of which 9 approved it, and 11 rejected it.

According to the 2011 activity report of the DLAF, out of the 178 probes, which were ongoing in 2011, 97 have been finalized, and hints of fraud that affect the financial and European interests were found in 53 of them.

The total value of the projects for which the probes were completed exceeds 247 million Euros, and the total value of the financial impact estimated in the case of the irregularities and possible frauds which were uncovered is about 28.88 million Euros. 52 cases were submitted to the authorities which are competent with managing the European funds, in order to recoup the amounts which were used inappropriately, according to the quoted report.

52 cases were submitted to the authorities which are competent with managing the European funds, in order to recoup the amounts which were used inappropriately, according to the quoted report.

The National Anticorruption Department estimates the losses in the cases it investigated using the Audit notes of the DLAF at approximately 4.6 million Euros.