European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kovesi has condemned Romanian authorities for their inadequate efforts in detecting and reporting VAT fraud, highlighting that Romania has the highest VAT collection gap in the EU.
As reported by the European Commission, Romania’s VAT shortfall is recorded at 30.6%, significantly exceeding the EU average of 6%.
“Over 90% of this can only be explained by fraud. Unfortunately, the detection and reporting of such crimes – at least to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office – remains extremely low,” Kovesi stated in an interview with local newspaper Libertatea.
In 2024, only 12 out of nearly 400 EPPO cases in Romania were related to VAT fraud, with “only three or four” being reported by the national tax authority ANAF, according to Kovesi, while most were flagged by other EU member states.
Kovesi asserted, “There are only two explanations: either they don’t want to find out, or it’s bad faith… There’s no other explanation.”
She further warned that the enforcement gaps are being exploited by international criminal organizations. “Romania is fertile ground not only for the Italian mafia but also for the Chinese mafia,” she said, calling the rise of VAT fraud a “worrying phenomenon” across Europe.
“Organised groups and mafias are no longer national; they are highly complex, operating both inside and outside the European Union,” Kovesi added. “If one country starts to crack them down, they simply move to a place where no one bothers them,” she explained, underscoring the transnational nature of the threat.
, reports 24brussels.
