- A man was convicted of VAT fraud in the first verdict by a Dutch court, investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rotterdam.
- The court sentenced him to 197 days in prison, with 180 days probational, and 240 hours of community service.
- The case involved international VAT fraud related to consumer electronics, affecting Germany, Hungary, and the UK.
- The estimated damage to the EU and national budgets is over 40 million euros.
- The defendant was the director of a Dutch company that acted as a missing trader, failing to pay 1.5 million euros in VAT.
- The EPPO was deemed competent as the total fraud damage exceeded 10 million euros.
- The EPPO is responsible for handling crimes against the EU’s financial interests.
Source: eppo.europa.eu
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
