In the port of the Greek Piraeus, the European Public Prosecution Service (EOM) seized 2,400 containers in an investigation into fraud with the import of Chinese products. According to Eppo Is it about the biggest confiscation of containers ever in the European Union.
In the containers there were e-bikes, textiles and shoes with a total estimated value of 250 million euros. The European prosecutor reports six people to prosecute, of which two customs officials, due to suspected participation in criminal networks. They flooded the EU market with fraudulently imported goods from China, according to Eppo. In addition, they would also have avoided taxes and import duties.
The two customs officials have been charged with making false certificates. In addition, four customs agents, who are responsible for, among other things, the handling of customs declarations, are sued for ‘repeated customs fraud’.
Chinese networks
Eppo investigates various criminal networks, which according to the prosecutor are often led by Chinese individuals. Those networks would also be guilty of money laundering and send money back to China. At the end of June, in the context of this study, raids were already made in four different countries and ten suspects were arrested.
Because of the 500 containers with e-bikes, of which only ten to fifteen percent were specified, the EU “conservatively estimated” 25 million euros in import duties and 12.5 million euros in VAT missed out, Eppo writes. The total damage of the fraud, which, according to the prosecutor, has been going on for at least eight years, is at least 800 million euros.
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