§ Sir Richard BodyTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many cases of fraud upon the European Community agricultural funds were referred to the Commission by each of the 12 member states in the first nine months of 1989.
§ Mr. CurryRegulation 283/72 requires member states to notify the Commission each quarter of all instances of irregularity affecting the European agricultural guidance and guarantee fund. Irregularity is defined as contravention of a legal provision, whether deliberate or not, exceeding 1000 units of account (about £800) in value. The number of irregularities notified is not, therefore, a measure of detected fraud, nor does it necessarily relate to the volume of actual fraud committed. The numbers notified in the first three quarters of 1989 are as follows: 421W
422W
Guarantee Section Guidance Section Belgium 2 0 Denmark 11 0 Germany 24 0 Greece 0 0 Spain 10 0 France 85 1 Ireland 8 5 Italy 33 0 Luxembourg 1 0 Netherlands 58 27 Portugal 0 0 United Kingdom 129 34 Source: Commission of the European Communities.