EPPO reports arrests in €195m VAT fraud across 17 countries

Article summary

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has reported that it has arrested 14 individuals believed to have orchestrated a €195m VAT fraud scheme that spanned 17 countries. The EPPO and supporting partners, including Eurojust, Europol, HM Revenue and Customs and relevant European counterparts, carried out over 18 searches involving 680 tax and police investigators. The EPPO has also reported that investigators seized €15.3m worth of smartphones, used to perpetuate the fraud, a yacht worth €3m, around €1.2m in cash and cryptocurrency, luxury cars and jewellery and gold. The countries involved in the investigation were: Albania, Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.