02 January 2010

Europol Expects More Arrests In Carbon Fraud Probe

This sounds so farfetched, like something out of a futuristic novel - and yet, this is the world we have created!

Excerpt from
Planet Ark, 21 August 2009

'European police agency Europol expects further arrests in connection with suspected carbon credit tax fraud after Britain's tax office said two more people were arrested in London late on Wednesday, bringing the total to nine.

Officers from HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC), working with Europol, have now arrested seven men and two women following a suspected 38 million pounds ($62.8 million) value-added tax (VAT) scam related to carbon credit trading....

HMRC said the arrests are related to an investigation into what is believed to be an organized crime group operating a network of companies trading large volumes of European Union carbon emissions credits in so-called carousel fraud.

Through carousel fraud, also called missing trader fraud, fraudsters import goods VAT-free from other countries, then sell the goods to domestic buyers, charging them VAT. The sellers then disappear without paying the tax to the government.

Britain said last month it would make carbon trading exempt from VAT in response to the suspected scam.'

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