30/01/2026 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 29 January, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Berlin announced the indictment of five people before the Magdeburg Regional Court (Saxony-Anhalt) on suspicion of VAT fraud worth €20 million, including two for membership of a criminal organisation. This is the first indictment in the ‘Water into Wine’ investigation. According to EPPO, the defendants had set up a system for distributing chemically modified ‘synthetic’ fuels in order to avoid taxation. The authorities estimate that these activities have caused a loss of more than €135 million to the German budget since 2023. (NP)