It is investigating the export of more than 760 vehicles from EU countries to circumvent sanctions.
The investigation promises to be one of the largest in terms of scale in the area of illicit shipments circumventing sanctions. A total of 766 vehicles have been identified that were declared for delivery to Turkey but did not end up at their declared destination, OLAF said in a press release published on the European Commission’s website.
The investigation began after Polish authorities detected suspicious shipments of used cars from the European Union and passed the data to OLAF. According to Polish customs, the cars were actually shipped to Russia.
OLAF, in close cooperation with the national authorities of EU Member States, identified an extensive scheme involving several EU exporters and importers from third countries, including Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova.
OLAF was able to establish that the declared destinations never accepted any of the 766 vehicles. Each car was tracked, allowing the logistics chain to be recreated and the cars to be located in Russia.
As a result of the investigation, criminal proceedings have been opened in three EU member states. OLAF Acting Director General Salla Saastamoinen emphasized that sanctions circumvention schemes undermine EU measures, and her office continues to work to ensure effective enforcement of EU sanctions and prevent such violations.
In March 2022, the U.S., the EU, and the UK imposed a ban on the supply of cars worth more than $50,000 to Russia.
