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German authorities this week reissued a public call for help in tracking down three men suspected of being involved in a €136 million tax evasion and money laundering scheme linked to the EU ETS.
Pakistani nationals Ashraf Muhammad and Mobeen Iqbal, along with British man Mohsin Usmangani Salya, are wanted by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on suspicions that they “fraudulently” dealt EU carbon allowances between 2009 and 2010.
“Their whereabouts are believed to be outside of Germany (Dubai/UAE or Pakistan),” the BKA said in a notice.
International arrest warrants were first issued by the authorities for the three men in 2014.
The men are suspected of having evaded up to €136 million in tax while operating firms in the UAE and Germany.
Authorities may link them to two British men recently charged by the Frankfurt prosecutors’ office over their role in a gang involved in committing so-called carousel fraud in the EU ETS through companies in the UAE and Germany.
German prosecutors last year charged eight former and current Deutsche Bank employees over their suspected involvement in helping the bank’s clients evade taxes between Sep. 2009 and Feb. 2010.
Since 2011, at least 10 individuals have been sentenced by German courts to jail terms of between two and eight years for their part in the fraud, which European authorities estimate to have cost governments more than €5 billion in lost revenues.
By Mike Szabo – mike@carbon-pulse.com
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