News

Today, the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) in Palermo is carrying out a preventive seizure order of over €7 million, requested by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo. The suspects had obtained funds from the Sicilian Rural Development Programme (PSR Sicilia) to construct a livestock farming complex with an attached slaughterhouse. According to the investigation, they issued invoices with a higher price than the actual price of their expenses, which led to inflated invoices of over €12 million (incl. VAT).

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) today filed an indictment against six defendants in the Vilnius District Court (Lithuania) for fraud relating to procurement procedures, which caused damages of €580 000 to the EU budget, since fully recovered thanks to the timely investigation.

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Naples (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Salerno seized over €160 000 on 26 January, as part of an investigation into possible fraud involving EU agricultural funds.

On Tuesday, 24 January, the Central Criminal Judge of Spain sentenced two defendants in a simplified procedure in relation to offences of agricultural subsidy fraud and forgery of documents. One of the defendants was convicted of subsidy fraud and forgery of documents, with a suspended term of imprisonment of 6 months and a fine of €4 000. The other defendant was convicted of forgery of documents, with a suspended term of imprisonment of 6 months and a fine of €1 440.

 The defrauded funds were reimbursed prior to the delivery of the judgment.

In an operation code-named ‘Cheap Ink’, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Venice (Italy) today detained 18 suspects, believed to be part of a criminal organisation selling office supplies at cheap prices by fraudulently avoiding VAT payment, with profits estimated at €58 million.

The EPPO in Riga is carrying out searches today in the city of Daugavpils (Latvia), including at the Daugavpils  University, in a probe into suspected fraud concerning European Union’s Social Fund, with estimated damages of €600 000.

Operation Display took place today in 10 EU Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Slovenia), within the framework of an investigation into cross-border VAT fraud by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Munich. 61 searches of business premises and the homes of people directly linked to them were carried out, and five people were arrested in Czechia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. The criminal activity of the group behind the cross-border VAT fraud scheme led to estimated damages of €32 million.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb today filed an indictment against six defendants for the criminal offences of illegal trade of cigarettes, tax or customs duty evasion and bribery, committed as part of a criminal organisation.

In an investigation into suspected fraud concerning the housing of victims of the 2016 earthquake in Italy, the pre-trial judge of the Court of Teramo, at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), granted an order for freezing assets of €800 000, which was executed by the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Financial Police).