Italy is top in Europe for the estimated amount of damage to the EU budget related to active investigations into alleged fraud and financial wrongdoing, the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) said in its annual report on Friday.
It said that there were 618 active investigations for such cases at the end of 2023, with an estimated damage to the EU budget of7.38 billion euros, including5.22 billion euros from VAT fraud.
The report said that, at the end of 2023, the EPPO had a total of 1,927 investigations open, with an overall estimated damage to the EU budget of 19.2 billion euros.
Italy was also top in terms of investigations launched into fraud regarding funding linked to NextGenerationEU programme, with 179 out of a total of 206.
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