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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| 5 bn euros lost due to VAT-fraud in carbon credits |
| 2010-12-29 |
| (KUNA) -- The European Police Office, Europol, announced on Tuesday that an estimated five billion euro was lost in 2010 due to VAT-fraud in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS). Carbon credits fraud? Who'da ever expected such a thing? Law enforcement authorities around Europe continue to fight the criminal networks involved in the fraud, said Europol which is based in the Dutch city of the Hague, in a statement Tuesday. And in the Hague, too! My mind just boggled. In operations during 2010, several hundred offices all over Europe were raided and more than 100 people arrested. "What're y'in for?" "Murder." "Rape." "Carbon credits fraud!" "Jailer! I need to move to a different cell!" "Yeah! Me, too!" In the latest operation on 17 December, Italian authorities carried out raids on about 150 companies in eight regions of Italy. These operations happened just a few weeks after the Italian Power Exchange (G.M.E) halted all trading in carbon credits due to a high number of abnormal transactions. Earlier this year, authorities in France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom and other countries conducted numerous operations against criminal networks involved in carbon credit fraud. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Latvia, the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic and Portugal are all among the countries trying to identify the network of criminals behind this massive fraud, a fraud with links to criminal networks operating outside the EU and in other continents, like the Middle East, said Europol. Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol, commented that, "organised VAT fraud remains a significant criminal activity in Europe. It is responsible for draining huge resources from central government revenues and undermining the objective of transforming Europe into a competitive and greener economy." The Emissions Trading Scheme was created as a cap-and-trade system to control pollution by providing economic incentives to companies for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Oi vey, oi vey, oi vey. Who would've thought that it'll work out this way? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-12-29 17:14 |
| #5 They've not had much teevee time for sure. The Hilderbeast has been appearing less as well. Have they all been.... ruptured? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-12-29 16:25 |
| #4 Anybody seen algore, Markey or Waxman lately? |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2010-12-29 16:12 |
| #3 5 bn euros lost due to VAT-fraud in carbon credits But thanks to American Exceptionalism, we'd never have to worry about that here. [ The kind of American Exceptionalism that does not include American Politicians, that is. ] Any bureaucracy invites fraud. Gerbil Worming especially since it's all pretty fuzzy. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-12-29 14:55 |
| #2 Yep Carbon Credit Fraud is Fraud Fraud. Fraud^2. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-12-29 08:45 |
| #1 Seems to me the whole concept of trading carbon credits (whatever that is supposed to mean) is a fraud, so this story comes as no surprise. They should have raided even the "legitimate" traders. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2010-12-29 02:05 |