News

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is carrying out urgent evidence collection activities at the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb (Croatia), due to suspicions of subsidy fraud and acts of corruption.

The College of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) appointed today European Prosecutor Petr Klement as Deputy European Chief Prosecutor, to replace Danilo Ceccarelli at the end of his three-year term. He will take on his new role on 29 July 2023.

On 20 June 2023, the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) seized around €650 000 in assets from one of the suspects in investigation ‘Cheap Ink’, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Venice (Italy). The suspect, an entrepreneur from Bolzano, is believed to be part of a criminal organisation that sold office supplies at cheap prices by fraudulently avoiding VAT payment, with profits estimated at €58 million.

On 14 and 19 June 2023, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) carried out 27 searches in France and the Netherlands, in an investigation into VAT fraud involving car sales, with an estimated damage of €19 million. Four suspects were arrested and dozens of cars seized, as well as more than €1 million in cash.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Riga (Latvia) carried out 16 searches on 19 June 2023 and seized up to €6 million in assets, in an investigation into a suspected €14 million VAT fraud.

In an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Prague (Czechia), three companies and 13 individuals have been charged with subsidy fraud involving the acquisition of manufacturing machinery, with estimated damages of up to €3 million.

Three people have been charged with subsidy and procurement fraud, in an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Zlín (Czechia) into suspected manipulation of a public contract at the National History Museum in Olomouc. The defendants are a public official who worked for the museum and another two former employees.

Three individuals and one company have been charged with subsidy fraud involving a disinfectant production facility, in an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Liberec (Czechia), with an estimated damage of up to €800 000.

More than 2000 tax, customs and police investigators in seven countries (Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) are currently carrying out an action day with over 450 searches, as well as seizures of real estate and luxury cars. Five people were arrested today, 14 June 2023. 

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Cologne (Germany) leads this investigation, code-named Huracán, after their discovery of a large VAT fraud scheme concerning the international trade of more than 10 000 cars. The total fraudulent turnover of the organised crime group behind the scheme is estimated at €225 million, and the estimated VAT damage caused by the suspects amounts to at least €38 million.