The anti-fraud authority of the European Union (EU) said on
Monday it had uncovered a multinational ring smuggling large
quantities of textiles and shoes from China to the EU in a scheme
to avoid millions of euros in tax and duties.
The large-scale fraud scheme in imports of textiles and shoes
from China involved a band of Chinese, Hungarian and Austrian
citizens, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) said in a
statement, without specifying the number and names of the
suspects.
An investigation by the OLAF in cooperation with the Austrian
authorities found that the band smuggled large quantities of
textiles and shoes from China into the EU by means of heavily
undervalued and false invoices.
Products involved were jeans, T-shirts and other clothes as well
as various kinds of footwear including sports shoes and casual
shoes.
Although the actual financial impact in customs duties and
value-added tax (VAT) was impossible to be accurately established
yet as the investigation was ongoing, the OLAF estimated the loss
could be more than 200 million euros in customs duties alone,
including anti-dumping duties imposed on leather shoes from China
since March 2006.
Quantitative restrictions on the importation of Chinese
textiles, which were introduced by an agreement between the EU and
China in 2005, were also circumvented.
The overall quantity of textiles and footwear affected by this
type of fraud until now could be estimated at around 600,000 tons,
which went on sale in several EU countries including Austria, the
OLAF said.
The investigation revealed mainly small customs clearance agents
were used to do the customs clearance on behalf of Asian citizens.
The goods were subsequently cleared in the EU member state of
arrival without paying the VAT and were then transported into
another member state of destination.
In the scheme the majority of consignees were either
non-existent or disappeared from the scene after a short period in
operation.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2007)
