Spain: Five directors of two companies indicted for evading anti-dumping duties on steel sheets

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in the Spanish capital Madrid is seeking a sentence of more than eight years of imprisonment and fines of over €25 million in an indictment filed on 17 Sept. against two companies and their five directors.

The suspects are suspected of evading the payment of anti-dumping duties on five import operations of steel sheets from China, in 2017 and 2018.

The imported steel sheets, which were finished products, are subject to the payment of the extra customs duties introduced by the EU’s 2019 new anti-dumping regulation.

But the defendants declared the imported goods as slabs, which are intermediate or semi-finished iron or steel products with a lower level of processing and rolling than sheets. They are suspected of misleading customs authorities and evading the payment of the corresponding duties.

In the indictment, the damage caused to the financial interests of the European Union as a result of this tax evasion is estimated at just under €10 million (€9,936,344.98). To ensure the defendants can meet their financial liabilities, over 30 properties linked to them were seized as a precautionary measure.

The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting, and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.

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