Wednesday, March 4
Investigators from the Landeskriminal and the Finanzfahndungsamt have carried out searches in Berlin since early this morning. In Charlottenburg, Neukölln and Mitte, among others, tax investigators and police officers searched various business premises in an operation about possible tax fraud of double-digit-millions of euros.
400 officers were involved in the operation, during which, allegedly, unfairly obtained assets like precious metal, luxury cars and cash have been secured. According to Bild, the heavily armed special operations command (SEK) had been deployed Neukölln for raids at a location classified as the meeting place for well-known clans. Today, there have been two arrests.
The operation was launched by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. Based in Luxembourg, this authority is responsible for the prosecution of criminal offences that harm the financial interests of the European Union. Investigators regularly target networks that organise subsidy fraud in Europe by systematically asserting expenses with the tax office that they don’t have, for example by using sham bills.
In 2024, the search and financial office in Tempelhofer Ullsteinstraße carried out almost 6,000 criminal proceedings, which 1,300 more than in the year before. This resulted in penalties and imprisonment – and the collection of €132.3 million.
