European police arrested 58 people in a continent-wide crackdown on a VAT fraud gang robbing European taxpayers of hundreds-of-millions of euros, the continent’s policing agencies said Friday. The gang which had been operating across Europe for the last nine years is suspected of VAT fraud and money laundering amounting to a staggering total of more than 390 million euros ($466 million). The gang also used their large network of shell companies to launder money before funnelling the cash into Bulgarian and Hungarian bank accounts. “In particular, the organisation moved more than 140 million euros in two years from Hungarian shell companies,” Europol added. The gang’s masterminds are suspected of so-called missing trader fraud which has cost the EU economy 60 million euros in damage so far, Europol said.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 04, 2018 12:56 UTC