Fake farmers and ghost farms were among the cases uncovered in a €10m EU-wide CAP fraud investigation.

Fraudsters submitted aid applications under the names of dead people, used false lease contracts and ineligible land for farm payments, the European Commission anti-fraud office (OLAF) has found.

OLAF investigated suspected fraud relating to 2017 and 2018 payments.

It found ineligible applications for EU farm payments across Europe, and highlighted a series of frauds in Italy and France.

In Italy, OLAF investigators found “false farmers” operated not only a very elaborate and wide-ranging fraud scheme, but also had possible links to Mafia organisations.

In France, investigators discovered claims for EU support for large and remote plots of land that were not actually farmed. They also uncovered claims for plots of land belonging to other individuals who had not granted appropriate permission.

“Ghost herds” were also found, consisting of animals that were never properly identified and unlikely to exist.

Claims for EU support on plots of land where no entitlements for farming could be provided by the beneficiary were also uncovered.

In some cases, the land claimed for was never farmed.

In the course of one investigation, it found claims were submitted for several years in Corsica for parcels of land in mountainous areas without any suitable infrastructure that would allow for farming, such as access track, water supply, corrals or feeding facilities. Applications were also submitted for parcels of land despite the fierce opposition of the legitimate owners, and for herds which were not properly tagged or even non-existent.

Hairdresser

In one investigation, OLAF discovered that an application for payment had been submitted by a full-time hairdresser for very steep cliffs where no animal had ever set foot.

OLAF recommended to the EU’s Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI) that €536,000 be recovered as a result of the fraud.

€10m hit

The combined financial impact of the cases OLAF has analysed so far is approximately €10m in EU payments.

The investigation also revealed how established farmers in Bulgaria, who were past beneficiaries of EU agricultural funds, attempted to expand their operations and holdings.

They would create and use new, and seemingly independent, identities in order to claim more EU payments.