Law enforcement and prosecution authorities from 9 European countries, supported by Europol and Eurojust, dismantled a gang responsible for defrauding Member States of around €150 m ($ 168m) in a joint action targeting VAT fraud.
Authorities embarked on a large-scale investigation on organised VAT fraud named Operation “VERTIGO”, under which nine individuals were arrested and 26 premises searched.
Operation VERTIGO began when investigators from the Netherlands and Germany observed a large number of VAT reimbursements from certain companies. The damagecaused to Germany’s state budget through this illegally evaded and reimbursed VAT is estimated to be in excess of €100m, while the Netherlands has suffered losses of at least €30m.
This Carousel Fraud network abuses the VAT system through moving the same goods across different European countries, claiming that due VAT on goods have been paid several times, when in fact they have paid none.
