Slovak institutions pay less attention to frauds related to the use of EU funds than those in other EU countries, said Margarete Hofmann of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). "Law enforcement agencies are independent, they do not have a duty to accept our proposals. The EU countries accept 42% of them, however, Slovakia only 18%, which is a pity from our point of view", said Hofmann.
Miroslav Hlivák, chair of the Slovak Public Procurement Office said that the cooperation of his institution with the Prosecutor General's Office had improved in recent months. "Already during trials, the Public Procurement Office contacts either the Prosecutor General's Office or the Antimonopoly Office and provides them with their findings. These institutions have a right to look into the files. Thus, if we identify unfair practices early enough, we will increase the detection rate," said Hlivák. René Vanek, deputy Prosecutor General said for RTVS that EU fund fraudsters are punished more often than in the previous year. "We can see an increasing trend now already. In the past, OLAF did not file complaints against the refusal of a criminal complaint and they were reminded that this is their right. They started using it and I believe that this will get better." said Vanek.
According to Margarete Hofmann, the situation could be improved by the existence of the European Prosecutor's office. The law on choosing Slovakia's representative at the European Prosecutor Office was in the first reading in the Parliament in June.
