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OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, was set up on 1 June 1999 to replace EUCLAF, the

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Unit for Coordination of Fraud Prevention, created in 1988 as part of the Secretariat

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General of the Commission.

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In creating OLAF, the European institutions wanted to provide themselves with an instrument

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for fighting trans-border economic and financial crime, fraud and corruption that harms community

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interests, in particular Europe's public finances.

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With these first-hand accounts from its main operational partners in the fight against

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fraud and cross-border crime, OLAF wishes to demonstrate to the people of Europe the

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benefits of this cooperation.

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This video on OLAF and international cooperation has been produced in close cooperation with

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the members of OLAF's Anti-Fraud Communicators Network, which is made up of public relations

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and communication officials in OLAF and in the national departments, which are its principal

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partners in the member states and the candidate countries.

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It is intended to provide the public with better information about the anti-fraud cooperation

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that exists between community institutions and national departments.

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The activities of the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard consists in detecting and investigating

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offences against financial and customs legislation falling within its remit, including urgent

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criminal investigations.

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The Guard plays a vital role in preventing and acting on crime.

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Basically, our cooperation is concentrated on the fight against the smuggling of cigarettes

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and goods, particularly in transit.

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Currently, we focus attention on preparation to our accession to EU membership, and apart

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from attending training, we also try to lay the foundations of our connections to the

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databases operated by the European Union by OLAF.

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OLAF's contact in Malta is the Internal Audit and Investigations Directorate, which has

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two functions – to conduct internal audits of public services and to carry out financial

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investigations.

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We have very much up to now cooperated with OLAF, both in terms of training and in terms

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of support, in terms of exchange of information.

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Even in Malta, we have set up a structure which is working, we have opened up coordination

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with both the customs and the police authorities on joint investigations.

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The team that works on economic crime is a specialist one that operates within the Maltese

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police force.

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It is responsible for investigating all financial offences, such as fraud, misappropriation

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of funds, smuggling, customs offences, violations of intellectual property rights, counterfeiting

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and corruption.

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The requests from foreign agencies concerning such a contraband of cigarettes and large

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amounts of extradition requests for persons involved in such crimes.

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The Republican National Guard is a military-style security force that is in charge of internal

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security, criminal investigations and the prevention of tax and customs offences.

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The connection between the Fiscal Brigade and OLAF goes back to the 90s, when it was

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known as EUCLAF.

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In January this year, the Fiscal Brigade seized a cargo of 15 million cigarettes.

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Through close collaboration with OLAF, it was able to reconstruct a cigarette smuggling

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route and uncover a link with American tobacco producers.

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Alongside its investigative and preventive role, Portugal's criminal police service operates

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a central national crime register and organizes coordination on operational matters.

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It also serves as a link between the Portuguese authorities and international organizations,

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including Interpol and Europol.

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We can measure the quality of this cooperation in several ways.

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The first concerns the international experts who are integrated in OLAF, and act as the

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link between OLAF and Portugal's criminal police.

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A second aspect, on the financial side, is the acquisition of technical assistance for

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combating financial crime.

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By a decision taken on the 23rd of May 2003, the Romanian government designated the Prime

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Minister's Control Department as the sole point of contact with OLAF.

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It is responsible for coordinating all activities relating to the protection of Romania's financial

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interests and those of the European Union.

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The Romanian government control department has been very proud of becoming the contact

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point of OLAF.

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We understood the responsibility of this, and having all the support from the OLAF central

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office in Brussels, in training our people, in preparing our procedures, in making the

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public more aware of the importance of this, we have already got some success, and we are

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very, very optimistic for the future.

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Romania's police force is a specialized body responsible for safeguarding people's constitutional

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rights and freedoms, protecting public and private property, preventing and investigating

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crime and maintaining law and order.

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The police force is a public service that seeks to protect in practice the interests

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of individuals and society as a whole.

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It also supports other institutions, acting exclusively within the confines of the law.

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Cooperation is thorough, the OLAF contact point.

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We need direct cooperation between OLAF and the Romanian police because we have several

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investigations underway.

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The police in Slovenia aim to achieve maximum internal security for all citizens and to

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protect the constitution, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms.

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The police expect to carry out operational missions in cooperation with the European

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Union.

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This means that OLAF is our contact point.

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All of these activities will be conducted in accordance with Slovenian legislation.

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A state prosecutor accountable only to the constitution and the law represents Slovenia's

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public prosecution service.

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His position and powers place him on a par with judges and no outside influence can be

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able to bear on him.

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In July 2002, Slovenia's government created a multi-sector working group to look at the

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issue of cooperation with OLAF.

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This brought together all of the state's most important organizations.

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They were responsible for analyzing the mechanisms that can be used to ensure that the European

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community interests are protected.

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Slovakia's central contact point for OLAF was created on the 1st of January 2002 within

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the government office's internal audit department.

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It was set up with the aim of ensuring cooperation on the protection of the community's financial

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interests.

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A special structure known as AFKOS is made up of representatives from various bodies

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including the audit office, the public prosecution service, the ministry of the interior and

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the customs service.

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From its establishment our department has conducted a number of administrative investigations

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on its own on certain proposals but also many administrative investigations in accordance

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with the cooperation with the investigators from the European anti-fraud office.

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Sweden's National Economic Crimes Bureau cooperates closely with the tax and customs department.

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It deals with fraud that is seen as a threat to the financial interests of the community.

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The Swedish Economic Crimes Bureau is also appointed to be the national contact point

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to OLAF by the Swedish government.

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This means that the bureau assists OLAF and national authorities with specific contact

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points and helps to speed up the process when somebody has a question for the opposite body.

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The Serious Fraud Office is a UK investigation and prosecution agency responsible for examining

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the largest and most complicated cases of fraud.

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The SFO also conducts investigations in its jurisdiction on behalf of foreign anti-fraud

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agencies seeking evidence in the UK for their cases.

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Each national agency brings its own skills, its own expertise, its own experience but

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we need to do more than that. We need to cooperate, we need to exchange information, we need to

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exchange evidence between us. We need to have a truly international approach to dealing

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with international financial criminals. That is why we at the Serious Fraud Office have

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our mutual legal assistant unit to help our colleagues both from judicial and investigative

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agencies as well as OLAF.

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For more information visit www.olaf.org