ATHENS — European prosecutors announced Monday charges against six people for their alleged involvement in criminal networks that flood the EU with fraudulently imported Chinese goods.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) seized 2,435 shipping containers at the Port of Piraeus, Greece’s largest, which is majority-owned by Chinese state-owned enterprise COSCO. The containers were primarily filled with e-bikes, textiles and footwear. It was the largest seizure of containers in the EU in history.
The scheme to circumvent the payment of anti-dumping duties applicable to imports from China had been ongoing for at least eight years, resulting in an estimated loss of €350 million in customs duties and a further €450 million in VAT, depriving both national and EU budgets, according to the EPPO.
Two customs officers have been charged by European prosecutors in Athens with repeated false certification, causing unlawful gains and damaging the EU budget by abetting customs fraud. Four customs brokers have been charged with repeated customs fraud and inciting false certification.
The EPPO-led investigation, named “Calypso,” targeted criminal networks managing the entire circuit of goods imported from China into the EU, including distribution across member countries while evading customs duties and committing large-scale VAT fraud.
The investigation involved textiles, shoes, e-scooters, e-bikes and other goods imported from China. The proceeds were laundered and sent back to China.
“These highly organized criminal networks have specialized in this kind of fraud for years,” said European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi in a statement.
“Operation Calypso sends these criminals a clear message: the rules have changed and there are no more safe havens. Now, we must transform this spectacular success into systematic work. We require dedicated and specialized police, customs, and tax investigators throughout the entire EPPO zone,” Kövesi added.
These networks — mainly controlled by Chinese nationals, according to EPPO — are also involved in money-laundering and sending the profits back to China.
The seized containers are currently being inspected.
So far, Greek authorities have only opened a limited number — but the contents of the containers are estimated to be worth €250 million. EPPO said that opening and analyzing the goods represents an unprecedented workload for Piraeus customs officials, as well as a safety risk.
At least 500 of the containers are filled with e-bikes. Of those, 360 had not yet been declared to customs. However, based on the known modus operandi of the criminal organizations, prosecutors assume they would have been mis-declared and undervalued in order to get around anti-dumping duties applicable to Chinese imports.
On average, based on the early stages of the investigation, only 10-15 percent of the e-bikes in a container were declared. Conservatively, the damage to the EU budget from these e-bikes alone is estimated at €25 million in unpaid customs duties and €12.5 million in VAT losses.
The post European prosecutors make mega seizure of Chinese goods at Piraeus appeared first on Politico.
