A major sheep breeder in Romania and the president of the \u201cDacia\u201d Sheep Breeders Association, Dumitru Andre\u0219oi, has been placed in detention for 30 days in a case led by the European Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office (EPPO) for illegally obtained EU subsidies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say that\u00a0 Andre\u0219oi \u201cset up a criminal scheme to obtain EU subsidies for pastures that were ineligible for funding.\u201d He received approximately EUR 2.2 million in European agricultural funds as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the evidence, between 2018 and 2023, the sheep breeder used employees to identify pastures which he did not own and to lease them in the name of his parents and of a commercial company controlled by him, in order to fraudulently obtain EU funds. Public officials from Romania\u2019s Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) \u2013 Hunedoara County Centre colluded in the scheme,\u201d the EPPO said in a press release.<\/p>\n
Along with Dumitru Andre\u0219oi, the court ordered the detention and house arrest for Veronica Topor, deputy director of APIA Hunedoara, and Marius Szabo, a service head within the same institution. In addition, eight more individuals were charged, including another five public officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before he was detained, Andre\u0219oi had requested an additional EUR 1.6 million in funding through APIA. However, the funds were not released to him.<\/p>\n
A freezing order was issued in\u00a0order to compensate for the damage to the EU budget.<\/p>\n