The European Commission has blocked the recently-created European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) from using their budget to hire the specialised personnel they need. It has not explained why.
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Vials with a sticker reading, Covid-19 / Coronavirus vaccine / Injection only are seen in front of displayed pound banknotes with Queen Elizabeth and masks in this illustration. Reuters/File
BRUSSELS: Dubious intermediaries have offered governments across the European Union a total of about one billion non-existent Covid vaccine doses worth about 14 billion euros, the bloc’s anti-fraud agency said on Monday.
Such middlemen are asking for advance payments and giving no delivery details, Ville Itala, the head of the European anti-fraud office OLAF, said, stressing that pharmaceutical companies insist they sell directly to governments. “It’s quite massive,” he added.
“They send an offer, which is not a real one. In fact, there is as such no vaccines attached to the offer from what we have seen so far,” he said.
Fraudsters offer 1 billion COVID-19 doses across EU, agency warns euractiv.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from euractiv.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.