Brussels, 20/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 19 November, Eurojust and Europol announced a large-scale operation between the German, Dutch and Polish legal authorities, supported by their counterparts in other European countries, to target a criminal network responsible for VAT fraud for a total of €320 million, via a sophisticated carousel fraud scheme.
This form of fraud requires an intra-community transaction. The supplier or service-provider invoices VAT to the purchaser without paying this to the Treasury. A purchaser or customer subject to VAT taxation is theoretically always authorised to deduct this VAT. The result is a credit or repayment from the Treasury in favour of the purchaser. In this operation of the German, Dutch and Polish authorities, known as Vertigo 3, more than 49 searches and 27 hearings of witnesses and defendants have taken place in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This operation is part of a huge investigation into organised VAT fraud. The joint team made up by the three member states and the Czech Republic have received partial funding from Eurojust since July 2013. Eurojust has also deployed a mobile bureau to facilitate the exchange of information in real-time and joint analyses of the information collected. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)