Authorities have seized land and frozen bank accounts as part of an investigation into possible fraud involving EU agricultural subsidies in France’s outermost regions.

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Paris, France, bank accounts have been frozen and real estate seized in the French island of Réunion, with a combined value of up to €4 million.

The suspects under investigation are the representatives of a private company.

They are alleged to have fraudulently taken control of a cooperative representing fruit and vegetable producers in the island of Réunion in order to obtain EU subsidies.

The cooperative, created in 2008, benefitted from funds from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) for overseas agriculture, through the Programme of Options Specifically Relating to Remoteness and Insularity (POSEI).

It is understood that the suspects, who were also members of the cooperative, diverted the funding to benefit their private company, totalling up to €4 million between 2019 and 2024.

The investigation was supported by the Réunion Island Criminal Investigation Section and the Réunion Island Interministerial Investigation Group of the Police and Gendarmerie.

All persons concerned are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the competent French courts of law.

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.

France

In a separate case, two individuals and a company were convicted of fraud in a French court last month after EU subsidies were claimed for a fictitious cattle farm.

The conviction followed an investigation and prosecution by EPPO in Paris.

The couple, who are based in Corsica, had falsely declared that they were operating a cattle farm in order to secure EU agricultural subsidies.

In total, the couple received €263,000 from France's public agricultural payments agency (ASP).