In January this year, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Zagreb filed an indictment against six defendants for the illegal trade of cigarettes, tax or customs duty evasion and bribery, committed as part of a criminal organisation.
Article continues below
>
Today, 10 May 2023, the County Court in Zagreb passed a verdict in which three defendants, the first, the second and the fifth defendants from the indictment, were found guilty of criminal offences.
The first and second defendant were sentenced to two years and eleven months of imprisonment, with a partial suspended sentence of one year and five months. The remaining prison sentence of one year and six months will not be served, unless they commit another criminal offence within the next five years.
The fifth defendant was sentenced to two years of imprisonment, with a partial suspended sentence of one year. The remaining prison sentence of one year will not be served, unless he commits another criminal offence within the next four years.
All three defendants are obliged to repay the damages they caused to the EU budget and the budget of the Republic of Croatia. Before the sentence was issued, they had paid €150 000, while the remaining amount of € 3.07 million must be paid within the next five years.
The verdict is the result of a plea bargain, as all three defendants pleaded guilty to all charges.
The other defendants are still awaiting trial.
According to the investigation, cigarettes were being shipped from Dubai to Croatia, which were then illegally transported to other EU Member States via the Port of Ploce, without undergoing the mandatory declaration procedure at customs, and sold on the illegal market.
It is understood that once the smuggled cigarettes were delivered in containers from Dubai to the Port of PloÄe, they were transported by truck to a warehouse in Zagreb, rented by two of the defendants.
In order for the containers to undergo official customs procedures without being inspected, the defendants are believed to have paid an undercover investigator acting as a customs officer a total amount of €90 000.
The defendants have organised transportation by sea from Dubai of a total of 7 containers of at least 90 tonnes, i.e., 5 798 400 packs, of smuggled cigarettes; of illegally shipping 3 of those containers of at least 35 tonnes of smuggled cigarettes across the customs and border line into Croatia, without declaring them to the customs officers; and of transporting the cargo by truck to Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and other EU Member States, to sell it on the illegal market.
By doing so, they are believed to have achieved a pecuniary gain of at least €2,7 million. ■