Der Bericht von Carbon Pulse vom 4. Mai mit dem Titel: „The case of the skull ring: Poker pro, Polish broker on trial for French carbon ‚crime of the century’“ liest sich wie das Drehbuch zu einem Hollywood Thriller:
„A trial of 12 people accused of carrying out or facilitating up to €1.4 billion worth of tax fraud in the EU carbon market kicked off in Paris this week, in a case dubbed France’s “crime of the century” and featuring a plotline worthy of a Hollywood film. Five of the suspects appeared in court on Monday, including French businessman and professional poker player Arnaud Mimran and Jaroslaw Klapucki, the CEO of the French arm of Poland-headquartered emissions brokerage Consus SA. Mimran was arrested by French police in early 2015 on suspicion of tax fraud and money laundering, and is also under investigation for kidnapping and extorting a Swiss banker. Mimran is suspected of having orchestrated so-called ‘carousel fraud’ in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme along with accomplices Mardoche “Marco” Mouly, who also appeared in court, and Samy Souied, who was murdered in front of Paris’ Palais des Congres in Sep. 2010 in a still unsolved case. The remaining seven suspects are still at large and believed to have fled to Israel. The three men are suspected of defrauding the French Treasury of almost €300 million in unpaid taxes, which was linked to the trading of hundreds of millions of EU carbon allowances via a complex web of shell companies and offshore accounts spanning Cyprus to Latvia to Hong Kong. Klapucki is also being charged with organising tax fraud and money laundering.“
Betrügereien des Typs „Umsatzsteuer- Karussell“ („carousel fraud“ auch: „missing trader fraud“) im europäischen Emissionshandel (EU ETS) haben die europäischen Regierungen seit 2008 mindestens € 5 Milliarden gekostet (einige Schätzungen gehen weit darüber hinaus). Es handelt sich hierbei also nicht um kleiner Tricksereien, sondern um organisierte Kriminalität in großem Maßstab.
Übrigens: Auch mehrere Ex-Mitarbeiter der Deutschen Bank stehen wegen „schwerer bandenmäßiger Steuerhinterziehung“ beim Emissionshandel aktuell vor Gericht.