Operation Admiral: European Public Prosecutor's Office uncovers a massive €2.2 billion cross-border VAT fraud scheme

The European Public Prosecutor's Office has uncovered a large-scale VAT fraud scheme in all 22 countries participating in the institution, including Bulgaria, as well as in other EU countries such as Hungary, Ireland, Sweden and Poland and third countries such as Albania, China, Mauritius, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United States.

The operation codenamed "Admiral" is the largest criminal VAT carousel fraud scheme ever uncovered in the EU.

The estimated damages investigated under operation "Admiral" currently amount to €2.2 billion, but the investigation into the organised crime groups behind the scheme is ongoing.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office began its investigation in April 2021 when it emerged that the Portuguese tax office in Coimbra was looking into a company selling mobile phones, tablets, headphones and other electronic devices on suspicion of VAT fraud. The Portuguese authorities started working with the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

Working together across borders, European prosecutors, European delegated prosecutors, European Public Prosecutor's Office financial fraud analysts and representatives of Europol and national law enforcement agencies established links between the suspect company in Portugal and nearly 9,000 other legal entities and more than 600 individuals located in different countries. Eighteen months after receiving the initial report, the European Public Prosecutor's Office has now exposed what is believed to be the largest VAT carousel fraud ever investigated in the EU.

Beyond the size of the damages, what makes this VAT carousel fraud stand out is the extraordinary complexity of the chain of companies.