In 2023, OLAF recommended the recovery of €1.04 billion to the EU budget and prevented €209.4 million from being unduly spent from the EU budget. The Office closed 265 investigations and issued 309 recommendations for follow-up to the relevant national and EU authorities. In addition, 190 new investigations were opened after having analysed nearly 1180 reports on fraud and irregularities. Cooperation with the EPPO resulted in 79 cases that OLAF reported as they may give rise to criminal prosecutions. These are the key figures of OLAF's annual report for the year 2023 which was presented on 18 June 2024. The report informs about the following issues:

• OLAF's investigative performance and fraud trends in 2023 with regard to both EU expenditure and revenue;
• Impact of OLAF investigations;
• Anti-fraud policies;
• Cooperation with partners and communication;
• Human resources, staff management and budget.

The report is accompanied by statistical data that include developments in the period 2019-2023.

In 2023, OLAF started first investigations into fraud in relation to the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) that saw distributions of €300 billion to the Member States. Russia's aggression against Ukraine further determines OLAF's activities: OLAF continued to support the Member States in detecting and investigating attempts to circumvent the EU sanctions. The Office also took several efforts in protecting the assistance to Ukraine that amounted to €19.5 billion in 2023. OLAF provided training for Ukrainian anti-fraud authorities and carried out some investigations in Ukraine into potential fraud involving EU funds.

Trends from previous years became apparent in 2023: More fraud and irregularities are committed digitally and fraudsters increasingly abuse customs transit procedures by artificially creating cross-border situations and undervaluing goods.

Looking at anti-fraud policy, OLAF coordinated the new action plan of the European Commission’s Anti-Fraud Strategy in 2023. OLAF's network expanded as well: new agreements were signed in 2023 with authorities in the U.S., in Ukraine, and with the World Bank Group. 

As regards the publication format, OLAF continued the approach that started in 2022: the full report is provided in digital format and a short version is provided in pdf format at OLAF's website.