European Investigation
Acting on the orders of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Hamburg, officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau carried out searches as part of an investigation into an organized criminal group involved in VAT fraud. The case concerns the trade in electronic equipment. A total of 16 searches were conducted in France, Germany, Italy, and Poland within the framework of the investigation.
Officers from the Regional Office of the CBA in Bydgoszcz, in cooperation with officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police (CBŚP) in Warsaw and Poznań, searched a residential property and two commercial premises in Poland. The activities were carried out at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
At the same time, representatives of various national law enforcement authorities in France, Germany, and Italy conducted searches at several locations belonging to entities covered by the investigation. Similar actions had previously been carried out in Sweden. During the searches, investigators secured documentation, correspondence, and electronic devices, including desktop computers, laptops, servers, tablets, mobile phones, and data storage media.
Organized Criminal Group
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Hamburg is supervising an investigation into an organized criminal group engaged in VAT fraud, whose members are allegedly linked to the leaders of criminal networks already under investigation by EPPO in cases code-named “Midas” and “Goliath.”
The investigation is being conducted by the Tax Investigation Office in Nuremberg (Steuerfahndung Nürnberg), with the support of local German tax investigators, the Regional Office of the CBA in Bydgoszcz, the Central Bureau of Investigation of the Police (CBŚP) in Warsaw and Poznań, the French National Anti-Fraud Office (Office national anti-fraude – ONAF), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza), and Europol.
Large-Scale Tax Fraud
According to the findings of the investigation, three suspects joined an organized criminal group directly linked to individuals who are already subjects of the EPPO investigations “Goliath” and “Midas.” Investigators established that the suspects used business entities operating in several European countries to commit tax fraud. In the course of intra-Community trade in electronic equipment, irregularities occurred regarding VAT-exempt supplies of goods to a German company controlled by the suspects. That company failed to declare and pay the VAT due on those goods in Germany.
The evidence gathered indicates that the suspects provided tax authorities with false or incomplete information and failed to submit the required VAT returns for certain cross-border transactions. Payments for the goods were transferred to Swedish companies acting as so-called missing traders. The fraudulent scheme was designed to conceal the true nature of the transactions and evade VAT payments. According to the investigation, the suspects avoided paying more than EUR 2.6 million in VAT through this scheme.
EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to justice perpetrators of crimes affecting the financial interests of the EU.
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