(Luxembourg, 22 October 2024) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Luxembourg City has taken over from the Luxembourg State Prosecutor an investigation against a political party on suspicion of procurement fraud, document forgery and money laundering.
The aim of the investigation is to clarify allegations, resulting from an audit in spring 2023, concerning the implementation of two contracts awarded to a political party and its members in the framework of a public call by the Luxembourgish National Reception Office (Office national de l'accueil, ONA) in 2016 and 2017, as well as the justification of payments received in this context.
The purpose of the public call, and the project resulting thereof, was to develop an IT-tool called Mobile Assisted Language Tool (´MALT´), intended to translate simple words and sentences from Arabic into Luxembourgish, to help refugees, especially those from Syria, to settle in the country. The project MALT was awarded by ONA to the political party for an estimated value of over €200 000, which was co-financed by the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) at a rate of 45%, the Luxembourg State ( 45%) and a private party (10%).
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.