In 2024, OLAF recommended the recovery of €871.5 million to the EU budget and prevented €43.5 million from being unduly spent from the EU budget. The Office concluded 246 cases and issued 301 recommendations for follow-up to the relevant national and EU authorities. In addition, 230 new investigations were opened after having analysed nearly 1140 reports on fraud and irregularities. These are the key figures of OLAF's annual report for the year 2024, which was presented on 16 June 2025. Next to OLAF's investigative activity, the report includes information on the following topics: Protection of EU funds, protection of EU revenue, investigation within the EU institutions, impact of OLAF investigations, OLAF's contributions to the EU's anti-fraud policies, and OLAF's cooperation with partners.

With regard to the main trends in 2024, OLAF reported the following:

• OLAF's activities increasingly concern non-EU countries, such as fraud in EU spending in Ukraine and Western Africa;
• On the expenditure side of the EU budget, OLAF particularly investigated conflict of interests, procurement irregularities, inflation of costs, harassment, instances of collusion, inflated invoices and creation of false documents;
• 2024 saw a rise of OLAF investigations into the EU laws aiming at protecting biodiversity and the environment; the illegal trade into refrigerant gases continued to determine OLAF's work as was the illegal export of plastic waste;
• E-commerce fraud increasingly hampers EU competitiveness, particularly due to the drastic growth of the digital economy since the COVID-19 pandemic; fraud schemes in this context are non-declaration of goods to customs, misclassification of products and unlawful release of goods from transit procedures.

With regard to internal investigations, OLAF reports that several complex and sensitive cases involving EU staff in management positions or with a high profile in their workplace had to be investigated in 2024. A lot of cases concerned allegations of harassment, external professional activities and ethical issues linked to recruitment.

Last but not least, the OLAF annual report highlights the Office's role in investigating misuse of EU funds in non-EU countries where EU money is spent to improve infrastructure, promote education and support agricultural development. In addition, OLAF's global mandate is flanked with signing administrative cooperation arrangements. In 2024, this network was expanded, for instance, by administrative arrangements with the Foreign Service Control Unit of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Defense. OLAF has also played a pivotal role in enforcing EU sanctions against Russia and its ally Belarus and it has ensured that EU resources for the support of Ukraine, such as humanitarian aid, are effectively allocated and had the desired impact on the ground.

OLAF Director-General, Ville Itälä, said at the presentation of the report: “Our cooperation with national authorities and other partners remains essential to our success. It allows swift information exchange, coordinated action and stronger results in protecting the EU’s financial interest. We look forward to further enhancing this cooperation under the ongoing European anti-fraud architecture review”.