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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).

On 11 January 2023, in an investigation into tax evasion carried out by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) executed a freezing order of assets for a value of over €10 million, issued by the pre-trial judge of Lecco, following a request by the European Delegated Prosecutors.

According to the result of investigations by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Hamburg and the Customs Investigation Office in Hanover, four persons are suspected of having formed a criminal group to smuggle high-priced motor vehicles and declaring them to the customs authorities at a falsely reduced value. They are accused of both gang and professional smuggling, and the evasion of import duties. One of the accused is additionally suspected of money laundering, in a case in which he bought a smuggled car knowing about the illegality of its importation, especially that import duties for the vehicle had been evaded.

On 6 December 2022, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) referred a criminal case to the Iași Court, in Romania, where one company registered in Italy and three individuals were indicted for fraud concerning road modernisation works in the municipality of Ibănești, in the Botoșani county.