(Luxembourg, 10 February 2025) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bologna (Italy), a new freezing order of €950 000 was executed against a company involved in the import of stainless steel coils, suspected of evading customs duties.
Earlier in this investigation, a freezing order of approximately €2.4 million had already been executed by the Italian Financial Police (Nucleo di Polizia Economico Finanziaria – Guardia di Finanza) of Ferrara, bringing the total of assets frozen to over €3.3 million.
Two companies are under investigation. According to the evidence gathered during searches in Ferrara, Varese, Milan and La Spezia, the two companies made false declarations on 110 imports about the origin of their products to the customs agency in Ferrara. The administrators allegedly certified that the steel originated from South Korea when, in reality, the product was of Chinese origin. By doing so, the companies benefited from customs duty exemptions on goods from South Korea, evading the payment of nearly €2,4 million in additional customs duties introduced by the EU’s 2019 anti-dumping regulation.
Further inquiries uncovered an additional 60 import operations carried out by one of the companies under investigation, with the same ‘modus operandi’, causing an estimated damage of €950 000 euros in customs duties. This amount, subject to this new seizure order, was found and frozen in the company’s bank accounts.
All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.