Rahman Ravelli considers Luxembourg’s low levels of EU fraud reporting

In the past decade, Luxembourg has reported just two cases of suspected European Union (EU) fraud.

This has led to discussion about whether there is very little EU budget fraud in Luxembourg – or a reluctance to identify and report it.

The Luxembourg Times asked Rahman Ravelli for their thoughts on the situation.

Rahman Ravelli’s EU business crime and regulatory practice group, said they found the figures for Luxembourg surprising and extremely low. They added that an in-depth knowledge of Luxembourg and its processes would be required to determine exactly why the country had not reported more cases.

Rahman Ravelli explained that the creation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) – the EU’s first independent and decentralised prosecution office - could be seen as an admission by the EU that wrongdoing involving its budget was not being tackled adequately by its anti-fraud body, OLAF.

Luxembourg did not refer any suspected irregularities with EU funding to OLAF in 2020. It reported one incident of suspected fraud in 2017 and one in 2013.

No other country has reported such a small number of cases in the past decade. Malta, which is smaller than Luxembourg geographically and population wise, reported 62 irregularities between 2016 and 2020.

You can read Rahman Ravelli's comments on the Luxembourg Times. (Subscription required)