The European Public Prosecutor's Office has dismantled a trafficking ring that embezzled approximately €48 million in VAT. / © EPPO
The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) has successfully ended a huge tax fraud operation which sought to embezzle nearly 50 million euros.
EPPO, established in 2021 with headquarters in Luxembourg, has put an end to a major VAT fraud scheme. On Friday 24 October, the office announced that a hundred searches had been carried out across seven countries, resulting in seven arrests.
The operation, codenamed "Mela", unravelled an elaborate fraud scheme which had enabled the embezzlement of 48 million euros in tax. Over 300 police officers and members of anti-fraud services were involved.
The scheme saw a number of new electronic devices, such as phones, sold with the tax usually reserved for "resold" devices, thus allowing the seller to only pay VAT on the margins and not for the entire product. The products were sold at lower prices, resulting in unfair competition for other sellers and allowing the embezzlement of nearly 50 million euros.
Investigators seized a large amount of documents, electronics, and evidence, as well as 4 million euros in cash, phones, jewellery, cars, watches and gold.
Authorities gathered evidence and conducted asset-freezing operations in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg , the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The seven suspects were arrested in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands.
