Blog english – Page 6 – mafianeindanke e.V.

VAT fraud – bait for organized crime groups to funnel money

26. August 202329. June 2016

In 1993 the Maastricht Treaty (the Treaty on European Union or TEU) came into force. One of its main goal was to create a single market where goods, people, services and capital move within the union as freely as they do within a single country. Undeniably, the opening of borders has brought lots of benefits (the ability to study, live, work and retire in any member state; unrestricted flow of capital, products within the European Union etc.), yet the „frontier-free” market is also a bait for organized crime groups that want to take advantage of custom duties’ and other tariffs’ abolition. One of the most common and profitable crime is the value added tax fraud (VAT fraud) where mobsters make use of intra-community laws in order not to pay the tax on products shipped to another European Union’s Member State. According to Europol’s estimate, every year EU Member States lose 40-60 milliard euros in non-paid Value Added Tax.

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INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) sign an agreement on tackling transnational organized crime and terrorism.

26. August 20231. June 2016

23 May 2016 in Vienna an agreement on tackling transnational organized crime and terrorism challenges was signed between INTERPOL and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In November 2016 it will be submitted to the INTERPOL General Assembly for approval. Its main goal is to introduce a Joint Action Plan across six common areas: terrorism, illicit trafficking and organized crime, cybercrime, maritime and border security, forensic and criminal justice capacity, and institutional capacity.

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MND part of the European Union’s project on corruption in private sectors

26. August 20231. June 2016

Until the end of the year 2017 Mafia? Nein, danke! e.V. will be a partner in the European Project: „The Private Corruption Barometer (PCB) – Drafting and piloting a model for a comparative business victimization survey on private corruption in the EU.” Together with the research group eCrime from Trento University, in Italy, the Center for the Study of Democracy of Sofia, in Bulgaria, and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos of Madrid, in Spain, our organization will support the creation of an indicator to understand the perception of the level of corruption in small enterprises.

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Anti-corruption London Summit 2016 – more transparency in business activities needed

26. August 20231. June 2016

12 May 2016 London became the capital for anti-corruption activities – over 40 countries were represented at the Anti-corruption London Summit 2016. The range of participants varied from government’s appointees to non-governmental organization’s and privat business-establishments’ representatives. This year’s edition was particularly relevant due to the latest revelations divulged on Panama Papers, numerous tax evasions performed by influential companies and increased world’s tendency to fight organized crime and corruption. Germany was represented in a person of Heiko Maas, the Minister of Justice in Angela Merkel’s cabinet. One-day long meeting did not bring breakthrough promises from the side of German authorities. Nevertheless, it enabled the countries’ dialogue and certain commitments were made, wich might act as an incentive for other states to take steps in the fight against corruption.

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BitCrime project reveals the use of digital currency in organised crime

26. August 20231. June 2016

In May 2016, the European Central Bank (ECB) after months of discussions announced that in 2018 it would cease to issue the banknotes of a 500-euro value (yet the ones in circulation would remain valid). By this means the European Union wants to eradicate a comfortable „tool” for mobsters to smuggle tainted money. Yet nowadays tangible money is not the only method of performing illicit financial flows. With the introduction of virtual currencies (Bitcoin being the most famous in this category) the organized crime groups were given an alternative method of transferring illegally acquired assets. This issue was finally acknowledged by Germany and Austria – that is why they decided to launch a research focused on the use of digital currencies in the organized crime domain. The project’s name is „BITCRIME” and it will be founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology with a total amount of €2.4 million.

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EU Directive on the freezing and confiscation – help in the fight against organized crime groups?

26. August 202326. April 2016

Fighting the organized crime is a complex process that encompasses not only hunting down and breaking crime rings, but also making sure that any profit they have made is eventually seized. The law has to unable criminals to freely dispose assets acquired in an illegal way. Yet according to a general rule all accused are „innocent until proven guilty”. Although in many European countries aforementioned rule does not apply in certain cases (especially in the criminal law where the burden of proof is shifted onto the defendant), the European Union decided to officially align its Member States’ regulations on that subject. Works on a directive started in 2012 and the final version was presented in 2014 – „Directive 2014/42/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 on the freezing and confiscation of instrumentalities and proceeds of crime in the European Union”. This document fits perfectly into European Union’s priorities for the fight against serious and organized crime between 2014 and 2017.

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500 euro bill – help for mobsters?

26. August 202325. February 2016

The idea of withdrawing 500 euro bill from circulation reappears in public debate every now and then. In 2010, the United Kingdom was the first to ban the sale of the note by exchange offices even though the country is not a member of the Eurozone. Now, the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) calls on the European Central Bank (ECB) to reconsider withdrawing the banknote as it is a comfortable tool for mobsters to smuggle tainted money. On the other hand, there are countries like Germany or the Netherlands where the tradition of using tangible money instead of electronic one (like credit cards, cheques etc.) still prevails. So what are the main concerns that act in favor of withdrawing the purple bill?

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European Week for the fight against organized crime 2015 in Brussels

26. August 202325. January 2016

The European Commission is developing into a major player on the fight against mafia and organized crime in Europe. Brussels’ directives made their mark against money laundering. Also final report of CRIM Committee on European organized crime added fuel to the fire. Now, the European Parliament puts in the limelight this problematic matter. As a result of recent increase of interest in this topic, in November 2015 in, under the auspices of the European Parliament „European Week for the fight against organized crime” took place. Our partner organization Cultura Contro Camorra was among the organizers and Mafia? Nein, danke! e.V. was represented by several delegates. Here is a detailed report on the event.

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Deutsche Bank in dire straits

26. August 202325. January 2016

Recent years have been no sunshine and rainbows for Deutsche Bank – one of the most powerful worldwide-known institution. Next week, the bank will announce a record loss, the highest in its history: 6,7 bln euros. That downturn is surely correlated to many dubious deals executed by the bank in the past years for which it will be answerable now. But in this story, the most staggering is that, apparently, intricate criminal-like structures can grow only if equipped with the jurisdiction’s, tax advisors’ and – indeed – financial institutions’ support. Thanks to such a team, bank’s operations are susceptible to oscillate in the grey area, jurisdictional void, simply toying with rules and regulations.

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