23/08/2021 (Agence Europe) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) announced, on Wednesday 4 August, that it had carried out a series of searches of premises in Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria and Hungary in the framework of an EPPO investigation into cross-border value added tax (VAT) fraud estimated at more than €14 million. “Without the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, this operation would have taken months to set up. Now, it was a matter of weeks”, the European Delegated Prosecutor from Germany, Marcus Paintinger, said in a statement. The European Public Prosecutor’s Office officially started its activities on 1 June (see EUROPE 12731/2) and has already handled several hundred cases. (MF)