The report The Fight Against Fraud On The EU's Finances (HL 158) examines the effectiveness of the EU's system of protection from financial fraud, and identifies a number of weaknesses. EU law obliges both the European Commission and the Member States to combat fraud on the EU's finances. However, the onus to protect the EU's financial interests falls mainly on the individual Member States because they are responsible for administering 80% of the EU funds. The 404 million Euros cited by the Commission in its annual report offers only a glimpse of the levels of fraud perpetrated against the EU's budget, the Committee believes five billion Euros is a closer figure. Evidence presented to the Committee suggests that some Member States do not take their anti-fraud responsibilities seriously. Responsibilities for anti-fraud should include: (i) looking for fraud against the EU's budget; (ii) informing the relevant EU authorities

The lack of well-documented, factual information on fraud, waste and corruption in the healthcare sector is an important ally for those who would seek to abuse healthcare systems for their own profit. Our lack of knowledge of the incidence, nature and extent of fraud, waste and corruption in healthcare is a threat to the establishment of effective counter-fraud strategies. It prevents those who finance healthcare provision from understanding in clear and quantifiable terms the need to invest resources into counter-fraud activities. As a consequence, fraud remains a matter of moral hazard and healthcare systems continue to suffer considerable financial damage, as well as all the associated consequences for the quality of care that patients receive. It was for these reasons that the 'European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Network' (EHFCN) and the 'Dutch Healthcare Authority' (NZa, member of EHFCN) decided to collaborate to publish this book... --

The focus of this book is on the fifteen-member European Union but its coverage extends to many other bodies which form part of today's Europe, such as the Council of Europe, the European Economic Area and Western European Union.

This book critically analyses fundamental principles of EU law for the control of international economic crime. Discussing how the reporting system and the exchange of information are at the heart of the global anti-money laundering regime, the study also looks at the inferential force of financial intelligence in criminal proceedings and the responsibilities this places on prosecutors and criminals alike. The author closely examines the application of Article 8(2) of the European Court of Human Rights for the retention and movement of the fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles of unconvicted persons, and argues the incompatibility with the ECHR, along with the effect of socially stigmatising unconvicted persons. The work concludes with exploring how financial regulation has, inter alia, shifted responsibility to businesses and financial institutions to become more transparent and accountable to financial regulators and tax authorities. This critical analysis is essential reading for law students and the Judicial Body, as well as financial crime investigators and regulators.

This book offers comprehensive coverage of various aspects of financial accountability around the EU budget – how it is spent via policies, how institutions engage in checking policy performance (what taxpayers’ money actually delivers), and therein, the issues of monitoring, controlling, auditing, scrutinising and communicating budgetary expenditure. Presenting conceptual and theoretical approaches including financial accountability, learning, multi-level governance, implementation and throughput legitimacy, it looks at EU institutions (European Parliament, European Court of Auditors, European Ombudsman, European Public Prosecutor’s Office) and national bodies (supreme audit institutions at the national level), examining their contact with the EU budget. It details the historical development of accountability mechanisms (the ‘statement of assurance’, financial corrections, and parliamentary oversight by the Budgetary Control Committee (CONT)), and examines policy areas such as those of agriculture, social policy and cohesion (including Structural Funds and the Common Agricultural Policy), exploring the challenges of financial accountability in practice. Given the recent introduction of non-budgetary financial instruments and tools only partly financed by the EU budget, it sheds light on new burgeoning areas such as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) and the challenges they bring for ensuring the accountability of public money. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of audit and evaluation, budgetary spending and financial control and, more broadly, public administration, public policy and EU institutions and politics.

This book seeks durable solutions for tax crime and is a great resource for the development of knowledge, policy and law on tax crime. The book uniquely blends current practice with new approaches to countering tax crime. With insights from the EU-funded project, PROTAX, which conducts advanced research on tax crimes, the book comparatively analyses the EU's tax crime measures and the Ten Global Principles (TGPs) on fighting tax crime by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study critically examines how the TGPs can serve as minimum standards for the EU to counter tax crime such as tax evasion and tax fraud. The study also analyses how the anti-tax avoidance package can be graduated to fight tax crime in the EU. When escalated, the strengths of the EU tax crime measures and TGPs can form a fortress in which criminal law can be empowered to mitigate tax crimes with greater effect. The book will be particularly useful for end-user stakeholders such as tax policy makers, LEAs, professional enablers as well as academics and students interested in productive interaction between tax, criminal and administrative laws.