BRUSSELS - The annual theft of EU funds is around €500 million, but a top European Commission official says the figure is likely in the billions.
“We have reasons to believe that the real figure is closer to billions than to millions,” Francoise Le Bail, who heads the commission’s justice directorate-general, told the European Parliament's civil liberties committee on Wednesday (18 September).
The current €500 million figure arises from statistics sent to Olaf, the EU anti-fraud office, by member states, but Le Bail said national authorities do not have the right tools to make an accurate estimate.
