During its investigation into textile and footwear imports from China to EU, the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) uncovered customs frauds totalling €2.2 billion, with goods worth roughly €300 million of the sum entering EU via Slovakia, the Dennik N daily reported on Friday. Whether Slovakia will need to pay the sum yet remains to be seen.
At the press conference held on Monday, incumbent head Frantisek Imrecze of the Slovak Financial Administration said that the European Commission was not insisting on Slovakia paying the sum. "We are holding a dialogue with OLAF," said Imrecze to the press, adding that the Financial Administration does not accept the way in which the European Anti-fraud Office set the missing sum. "We have no information as to the value of the goods exported from China as it has not provided any information," said Imrecze.
The customs frauds took place mostly in 2013-14, when the Financial Administration, which also includes customs authorities, was run by incumbent head Frantisek Imrecze, notes the Dennik N. In its response, the Slovak Financial Administration claimed that the sum in question was not definitive, as it finds the figure unjustified and as-of-yet unapproved by the European Commission. The European Commission told the daily that currently no proceedings were taking place against Slovakia with respect to undervalued goods. According to Dennik N, the Slovak Finance Ministry is already aware of the OLAF findings. "Subsequently, the Finance Administration asked OLAF for explanations regarding some of the published information. Seeing as such an explanation hasn't yet been provided by OLAF, it's premature at this point to make any conclusions," responded the ministry press department.
OLAF discovered that a sea route from China via German Hamburg harbour was used most frequently for textile and footwear frauds. From Hamburg, the containers were transported via lorries to other EU countries - the United Kingdom, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, France and Malta. Most frauds with textile were uncovered in Great Britain, where losses in customs duties were quantified at €1.9 billion.
