ΕΥΡΩΠΑΪΚΗ ΕΙΣΑΓΓΕΛΙΑ-EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, latest news

 

31/10/2025   Ευρωπαϊκή Εισαγγελία Νέα

Ακολουθήστε μας |  |  |

Δελτίο τύπου

Έρευνα Goliath: Πέντε κατηγορούμενοι για απάτη ΦΠΑ ύψους 188 εκατομμυρίων ευρώ και ξέπλυμα χρήματος από τη Χαβάη (Λουξεμβούργο, 31 Οκτωβρίου 2025) – Η Ευρωπαϊκή Εισαγγελία (EPPO) στο Αμβούργο απήγγειλε κατηγορητήριο εναντίον πέντε υπόπτων, μετά από έρευνα για ένα τεράστιο ενδοκοινοτικό σχέδιο απάτης στον ΦΠΑ, με την κωδική ονομασία Goliath. Οι κατηγορούμενοι – τρεις Δανοί πολίτες και δύο Τούρκοι υπήκοοι που διαμένουν στη Γερμανία – κατηγορούνται για σύσταση ή συμμετοχή σε εγκληματική οργάνωση με επίκεντρο την πώληση ηλεκτρονικών ειδών. Πιστεύεται ότι η ομάδα διέπραξε πάνω από εκατό υποθέσεις διακεκριμένης φορολογικής απάτης μεταξύ 2019 και 2023, προκαλώντας ζημία άνω των 188 εκατομμυρίων ευρώ στον προϋπολογισμό της ΕΕ και των εθνικών προϋπολογισμών. Δύο από τους υπόπτους κατηγορούνται επίσης για χρήση του συστήματος Hawala για νομιμοποίηση παράνομων κερδών και για υποκίνηση άλλων σε τέλεση παράνομων πράξεων. Οι δύο βασικοί κατηγορούμενοι - ένας Δανός πολίτης που συνελήφθη στην Κένυα στις 23 Μαΐου 2024 και ένας Τούρκος υπήκοος - είχαν ήδη καταδικαστεί τον Μάρτιο του 2025 στο πλαίσιο της ίδιας έρευνας για άλλες περιπτώσεις φοροδιαφυγής. Αυτή τη στιγμή εκτίουν ποινές φυλάκισης πέντε ετών και εννέα μηνών και πέντε ετών και δύο μηνών αντίστοιχα στη Γερμανία. Σύσταση εγκληματικής οργάνωσης για διάπραξη απάτης ΦΠΑ Η έρευνα έδειξε ότι οι δύο βασικοί κατηγορούμενοι ένωσαν τις δυνάμεις τους για να δημιουργήσουν και να λειτουργήσουν μια εγκληματική οργάνωση αφιερωμένη στην απάτη στον τομέα του ΦΠΑ. Ήταν αρχικά μέλη ενός εγκληματικού δικτύου υπεύθυνου για τη λεγόμενη «σουηδική επίθεση», ένα σχέδιο απάτης στον τομέα του ΦΠΑ που στόχευε τη Σουηδία μεταξύ 2017 και 2021, προκαλώντας εκατομμύρια ευρώ σε φορολογικές απώλειες.   περισσότερο

Investigation Goliath: Five indicted for €188 million VAT fraud and Hawala money laundering (Luxembourg, 31 October 2025) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Hamburg has filed an indictment against five suspects, following an investigation into a vast intra-community VAT fraud scheme, code-named Goliath. The defendants – three Danish citizens and two Turkish nationals residing in Germany –, are accused of establishing or participating in a criminal organisation focused on the sale of electronic goods. The group is believed to have committed over a hundred cases of aggravated tax fraud between 2019 and 2023, causing an estimated damage of more than €188 million to the EU and national budgets. Two of the suspects are also accused of using the Hawala system to launder illicit profits and of inciting others to commit unlawful acts. The two main defendants – a Danish citizen who was arrested in Kenya on 23 May 2024 and a Turkish national – had already been convicted in March 2025 in the same investigation for other instances of tax evasion. They are currently serving sentences in Germany of five years and nine months, and five years and two months, respectively. Setting up a criminal organisation to commit VAT fraud The investigation showed that the two main defendants joined forces to create and operate a criminal organisation dedicated to VAT fraud. They were first members of a criminal network responsible for the so-called ‘Swedish attack’, a VAT fraud scheme targeting Sweden between 2017 and 2021, causing millions of euros in tax losses.

more

Press release

Investigation ‘Escape Room’: EPPO cracks down on VAT carousel fraudsters across Europe (Luxembourg, 31 October 2025) – The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), through its offices in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Graz (Austria) and Katowice (Poland), has struck a significant blow to criminal networks operating cross-border VAT fraud schemes linked to the sales of electronic devices. Under the EPPO-led investigation, code-named ‘Escape Room’, dozens of searches and investigative measures were carried out from 15 to 27 October in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland, supported by law enforcement officers in those countries. Eight individuals were arrested in Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland. Based on the evidence, millions of electronic devices were sold within cross-border fraud schemes all over Europe, using hundreds of shell companies, forged documents and fictious invoices, in order to evade the payment of VAT. In addition, the VAT fraud carousel allowed the criminal networks to claim VAT reimbursements from the national tax authorities, to which the alleged perpetrators were not entitled, all leading to substantial illicit profits. Suspicions of serious irregularities involving companies in several Member States triggered this investigation. The activities of a Belgian company that experienced a turnover increase of more than 800% over three years (2018-2020), following its takeover by a Dutch individual, raised serious questions about the authenticity of its commercial operations and the companies involved. The analysis of data received from over a dozen Member States indicated that several firms appearing to have commercial relationships with the suspected company were either not engaged in actual economic activity or had not fulfilled their VAT obligations. Furthermore, suspicious action reports received from the Netherlands Financial Intelligence Unit contributed to tracing fraud chains in the country.   more

Press release

Investigation ‘Crime Cars’: EPPO conducts over 100 searches in probe into damaged vehicles imported from Switzerland (Luxembourg, 30 October 2025) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Berlin (Germany), 105 searches were carried out yesterday in Poland, in a probe into a criminal organisation importing damaged cars from Switzerland to Poland via Germany, while evading custom duties and VAT. The investigative measures were conducted by 200 police officers in several regions in Poland, at transport companies, customs declarants, repair shops and resellers, as well as in residences of suspects. The police questioned 30 suspects and heard 20 witnesses, and executed eight freezing orders. A total of 32 cars were seized. According to the investigation, Swiss companies, mostly led by Polish or Swiss-Polish directors, buy the damaged cars from Swiss insurance companies via online platforms, and then organise their transport to Poland, via Germany, to be repaired in auto repair shops. The suspects declare the imports at customs offices either at the Swiss-German border or at the German-Polish border. They are believed to have used forged declarations of origin falsely claiming that the vehicles were originally assembled in the EU, in order to fraudulently benefit from a customs exemption. In addition, the members of the criminal network are suspected of having issued fake invoices for the cars, in order to declare a lower value at German customs offices – thus evading additional customs duties and also import VAT. Based on the evidence, the vehicles are then sold in Poland, using a network of resellers under the organisation’s control. It is estimated that more than 27 000 cars were sold using this scheme, causing more than €10 million in damage to the EU and the national budgets.   more