u/lucedan

I read in EULAW RULES that no requests for legal advice are accepted. I submit this post believing that the nature of my post is of a more general nature regarding the basic rights of people submitting a report to OLAF.

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I have recently (about 1 month ago) submitted to OLAF a report about what I consider a case of fraud, which is in this case the abuse of power of an executive agency within a public call for project proposals.

Notice that, in this case, the problem is a denial of funding. I still believe that this case meets OLAF's mandate, and specifically their definition of fraud: "An irregularity is an act which doesn’t comply with EU rules and which has a potentially negative impact on EU financial interests... If an irregularity is committed deliberately, however, it’s fraud. (See more in Article 1 of Council Regulation 2988/95)"

However, they also report:

"Please note that OLAF cannot investigate allegations of: fraud with no financial impact on EU public funds."

The case of a "denial of funding" creates some potential friction, as "no financial impact" may be argued since no money was given, still a "financial impact" can be argued as the undue denial of one project proposal due to inadequate reasoning (as reported in the EU page Complaints about Rejections of Project Proposals) affects the EU budget against the EU financial interests.

The point is that I am bringing on this fight publicly, and I released the evidence in this Zenodo report: https://zenodo.org/records/17225804

I now submitted the information to OLAF, but the organization reports that I may not be informed in case of dismissal: "If it is determined that the matter you have raised does not satisfy the criteria for opening an investigation, it will be dismissed. If this occurs, OLAF may inform you about this, but this is not done systematically."

I would like to be informed whether this occurs, as this information is important to me to understand how to develop my advocacy action in favor of research, innovation, and the defense of democratic processes.

From a legal perspective, do submitted have a right to be request for information about the status of their submission? Who should be contacted in such a case?

I have recently (about 1 month ago) submitted to OLAF a report about what I consider a case of fraud, which is in this case the abuse of power of an executive agency within a public call for project proposals.

Notice that, in this case, the problem is a denial of funding. I still believe that this case meets OLAF's mandate, and specifically their definition of fraud: "An irregularity is an act which doesn’t comply with EU rules and which has a potentially negative impact on EU financial interests... If an irregularity is committed deliberately, however, it’s fraud. (See more in Article 1 of Council Regulation 2988/95)"

However, they also report:

"Please note that OLAF cannot investigate allegations of: fraud with no financial impact on EU public funds."

The case of a "denial of funding" creates some potential friction, as "no financial impact" may be argued since no money was given, still a "financial impact" can be argued as the undue denial of one project proposal due to inadequate reasoning (as reported in the EU page Complaints about Rejections of Project Proposals) affects the EU budget against the EU financial interests.

I now submitted the information to OLAF, but the organization reports that I may not be informed in case of dismissal: "If it is determined that the matter you have raised does not satisfy the criteria for opening an investigation, it will be dismissed. If this occurs, OLAF may inform you about this, but this is not done systematically."

I would like to be informed whether this occurs, as this information is important to me to understand how to develop my advocacy action in favor of research, innovation, and the defense of democratic processes.

From a legal perspective, have I a right to be informed about the status of my submission? Can I eventually submit a request to OLAF, and do you know who I can contact in such a case?

P.S. The matter does not involve a specific European country, as the funding agency was an executive agency for multi-country projects.