Mr Bruener said it was crucial for all EU countries to work together to stamp out such irregular activities and that it was up to the general public to get in touch with the Office (OLAF) if they hear anything about such incidents.

The Malta partner of OLAF is the Internal Audit and Investigation Directorate, headed by Pierre Pace, who said that risk analysis – seeing where fraud is being committed – is very important. “We must cooperate in inter-state investigations to not only track down abuse, but also to prevent it,” he said. He said that OLAF had a freephone number that the general public could use anonymously to blow the whistle on irregular activities. The number is 800010520004 and callers can leave their message in Maltese.

Mr Bruener said that apart from cooperating, countries needed to share experiences and learn from each other. “This is EU taxpayers’ money – you, me, Mr Pace, people in Sweden – everyone in the EU. We must make sure that our tax contributions are not compromised,” he said. Pointing out that, for example, Malta had particular similarities with Hungary, Mr Bruener said: “Malta is the southern periphery of the Union while Hungary is the Eastern periphery. Both of your countries have to tackle the problem of smuggling.”

Mr Bruener said that, unfortunately, the smuggling of alcohol (bootlegging) and cigarettes, was not really perceived as being as serious a crime as smuggling of drugs. “But when one bears in mind that the revenue from one container of contraband cigarettes is between E1.5m and E4m, then you being to realise why we crack down on it,” he said.

Mr Pace said his directorate had worked specifically with OLAF on three occasions. One investigation, related to fraud on export refunds for meat products, is still current but is to be concluded by November. Another investigation is related to cigarette smuggling and another to bank transactions.

Mr Bruener explained that the most popular form of fraud was that of meat export refunds. “The exporter will send meat somewhere and the refund will be claimed. The meat would then disappear and resurface in another country with brand new stamps, and he will again claim a refund. This goes on and on and in the end, the meat is inedible, but it can generate a lot of money,” he concluded.