The following overview highlights court verdicts and alternative resolutions in EPPO cases. It breaks down the EPPO's news reports from April to June 2024 and continues the overview published in → eucrim 6 May 2024 // preprint issue 1/2024. The overview is in reverse chronological order.

• 20 June 2024: The Regional Court of Vilnius (Lithuania) convicts a former director of the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute of Lithuania. The court found him guilty of bribery, money laundering, illegal enrichment, document forgery, and fraudulent financial accounting. According to the court, the former director accepted bribes in return for granting public procurement contracts – financed by EU and national funds – by using a company established by himself and his wife, together with 15 other related companies. His sentence comprises two years of imprisonment, a fine of €18,000 and a ban on holding public service positions for five years.
• 19 June 2024: The Berlin Regional Court (Germany) convicts five individuals of serious VAT fraud, commercial document forgery, and aiding and abetting tax fraud (→eucrim 2/2023, pp. 124-128), with sentences ranging from two to ten years. It additionally issues confiscation orders for the proceeds derived from the crimes – totalling €27.4 million. This conviction is already the second in a series of several similar convictions in relation to a major VAT fraud scheme having involved luxury cars and medical face masks as part of a criminal organisation. The first conviction was handed down against a former notary on 2 February 2024 (→eucrim 6 May 2024 // preprint issue 1/2024).
• 17 June 2024: Based on a plea agreement, the Specialised Criminal Court in Bratislava (Slovakia) convicts two individuals to three years of imprisonment (with a probationary period of three years) for EU funding fraud to the detriment of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Additionally, the two convicted persons are prohibited from participating in subsidy procedures for three years. The company is fined €5000 and banned from receiving EU subsidies for four years.
• 11 April 2024: The Correctional Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Antwerp (Belgium) finds one person and two companies guilty of evading customs duties on imported e-bikes. According to the Court, the defendants are guilty of presenting incorrect customs declarations with the aim of evading anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Alongside a prison sentence (suspended on probation) and fine issued for the individual, the Antwerp court orders the French and Belgium companies to pay the value of the imported goods (approximately €4.4 million) as well as the taxes and duties evaded (amounting to a total of €3.1 million).