On October 11, the chair, senators and legal research counsels of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court, as well as the head of the Division of Case-law and Research met with the delegated prosecutors of the European Public Prosecutor's Office in order to promote an exchange of views on current legal issues and case-law.

During the meeting, Gatis Doniks, a European public prosecutor, presented the objectives and current developments of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. Oskars Kulmanis and Aleksandra Azeva, legal research counsels at the Department of Criminal Cases the Senate, spoke about the current case-law on value added tax fraud and the Senate's findings that may be relevant in cases of fraud offences affecting the financial interests of the European Union.

The meeting continued with a discussion on legal issues related to two pieces of European Union legislation, namely Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means of criminal law and Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (‘the EPPO’).

The European Public Prosecutor's Office is the first supranational public prosecutor's office which has the power to independently investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the financial interests of the European Union 

 

Ilze Butkus, Communication adviser of the Supreme Court

Telephone: +371 67020302; e-mail: ilze.butkus@at.gov.lv