Over 100 simultaneous searches took place in seven European countries, including Romania, as part of an investigation coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) into a massive VAT fraud in the electronics trade sector.
The estimated damage is 48 million euros, and seven suspects have been arrested, EPPO announced on Friday in an official statement EPPO.
The investigation, named Mela, is taking place in nine countries - the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and the United Kingdom - and targets a network of phantom companies that fraudulently applied a reduced VAT regime to the sale of mobile phones and other electronic products.
Over 300 police officers and tax inspectors participated in the field actions. Following the searches, authorities confiscated documents, electronic equipment, money, phones, jewelry, watches, cars, and gold, with a total value of approximately 4 million euros.
The arrests were made in Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, while searches and asset freezes targeted other member states, including Romania, Austria, Belgium, Lithuania, and Luxembourg.
Fraud scheme: goods "resold" only on paper
According to EPPO, the suspected group created shell companies in multiple countries to simulate electronic transactions under the "margin taxation" regime, which allows VAT payment only for the difference between the purchase price and the selling price.
"Usually, this regime applies only to second-hand goods, for which VAT has already been paid. In this case, however, new products were allegedly sold, only on paper, as if they had been resold," the EPPO statement said.
Through this method, goods were sold at prices below market level, generating a fiscal loss of 48 million euros and unfair competition for honest traders.
International coordination
Europol coordinated the operation through a Virtual Command Post (VCP), which centralized the activities carried out in real-time in the seven countries. A Europol specialist was seconded to Nuremberg, where they managed cross-border checks and communication between teams.
EPPO emphasizes that all those involved benefit from the presumption of innocence until a potential conviction in a German court.
Among the main participating structures were: Europol, the Criminal Police of Bavaria, the Italian Financial Guard (Guardia di Finanza), the Spanish Civil Police (Guardia Civil), as well as the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime in Romania.