- EPPO led an operation into a €10 million VAT carousel fraud, resulting in six arrests and asset seizures in Germany and Portugal.
- 28 searches were conducted in company premises in Leipzig, Berlin, and Munich, followed by arrests and searches in Lisbon.
- Three additional suspects were arrested in Portugal, totaling six arrests.
- Authorities seized over €1 million in gold, cash, and luxury watches, and froze €2.2 million in German accounts.
- The suspects are believed to be part of a crime group exploiting EU VAT rules.
- VAT carousel fraud involves trading goods across borders without paying VAT, costing EU billions annually.
- Laura Kövesi called VAT fraud a damaging financial crime against the EU budget.
- No payment service providers were named, but the case may impact firms handling cross-border VAT-exempt transactions.
- EU regulators emphasize the role of payments infrastructure in detecting financial crime.
- Tax authorities plan to use real-time data and e-invoicing to monitor VAT compliance.
Source: paymentexpert.com
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.
