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Nine people and a company in Croatia have been indicted for subsidy fraud and document forgery involving European Union agricultural funds to improve animal welfare in pig farming.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb filed the indictment after an investigation showed the company submitted multiple funding requests amounting to over €9m under Croatia’s 2014-2020 rural development programme.
The alleged fraud occurred between March 2018 and June 2023, when the former and the current president of a company’s management board, along with the president and a member of the supervisory board, submitted the funding requests.
The support is meant to compensate farmers for lost income and additional costs incurred due to the implementation of additional animal welfare measures in pig breeding and fattening.
Although aware that their company did not meet these requirements, the defendants submitted false declarations for their subcontractors' farms.
Indictment
Of the more than €9m requested, the company received over €5.4m in EU subsidies, of which €4.7m was received fraudulently.
The paying agency for agriculture, fisheries and rural development denied payment of €3.6m for 2022 when it found irregularities and issued an order for the return of part of the misappropriated funds, recovering around €1.5m.
Before the filing of the indictment, the suspected company also returned the remaining €3,220,637.
If found guilty, the defendants could face from six months to 10 years imprisonment.
All persons involved are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the Croatian courts of law.
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