Bulgaria should put more effort into fight against fraud related to European funds usage, the director general of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) Franz-Hermann Bruner said.

Bruner said that it was important for Bulgaria to guarantee that the use of EU funds led to concrete results.

The number of irregularities related to EU funds usage in 2006 was 12 000, worth nearly 1.16 billion euro. Of the total number of irregularities, the total amount of suspected fraud was more than 323 million euro.

Bruner said that Bulgaria had achieved significant progress in the fight against EU funds-related frauds but it had to co-operate better with businesses to reduce such frauds.