That Didn't Take Long - Spanish Cops Arrest 9 In Alleged Carbon-Trading Tax Fraud - Reuters

[hatrack]

Market *coughfraudcough* Forces! That's the ticket!

Spanish police on Tuesday said they had arrested nine people on charges of avoiding 50 million euros ($67.54 million) in tax linked to trading in carbon credits. The arrests came after Spanish prosecutors announced last week they were launching an investigation into alleged tax fraud.

The investigation is part of a wider EU probe into an estimated 5 billion euros ($6.75 billion) fraud where companies bought carbon emissions permits in one country without paying value added tax, and then sold in another adding tax to the price but pocketing that difference for themselves. "The operation began due to a report issued by Europol, which had already undertaken similar investigations in countries like France and the United Kingdom," a Civil Guard statement said.

Norwegian police charged five men on Monday as part of a European-wide probe into so-called carousel fraud related to the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme.

Carousel fraud occurs when goods, in this case greenhouse gas emissions credits -- known as EUAs -- are bought and imported tax-free from other EU countries, then sold to domestic buyers, charging them VAT. The sellers then disappear without paying the tax to governments.

EDIT

http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/57379

[joeybee12]

1. Oh Lord, I'm laughing, but it's not funny...

...if there's a buck to be scammed, there's far too many people trying to do just that.