Customs authorities unveil Euro 2.7 million in fuel tax fraud

TIRANA, Oct. 7 – Customs authorities have unveiled Euro 2.7 million in damage to the state budget caused by the launch into the market of 4,400 tons of unexcised fuel in Lezha, northern Albania. The fuel owned by Ada petrol had been stored at the Shengjin Port and was under surveillance by local customs authorities. The Lezha customs director was immediately suspended while a lawsuit was filed against the company for the smuggling of excise goods. Reacting to the statement by the general customs directorate which is now headed by Elisa Spiropali, a young woman also in charge of the Socialist Party youth forum, the company dismissed as untrue accusations by the customs administration, saying that the truth is the company’s oil tanks had been assaulted and state authorities notified immediately. The company said it had filed a lawsuit on property damage and investigations were underway.
Speaking to reporters later this week after a meeting with the country’s top prosecutor, the head of the customs administration Elisa Spiropali said she had asked the chief prosecutor to send a task force to the Lezha Prosecutor’s office to probe into this case.
“Other cases are under investigation and the customs administration will file charges for each abusive case,” added Spiropali.
Last September, Tirana’s Prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into several petrol stations which a local metrology directorate identified as abusing the amount of fuel drivers buy. The probe was launched after the Metrology Directorate identified abuses with the amount of fuel in 14 petrol stations, four of which in Tirana and after the metrology directorate refused publishing the names of the petrol stations which are alleged to have stolen consumers 500 milliliters of fuel for every 10 litres or 100 lek (Euro 0.7) for every purchase of 2,000 lek (Euro 14).
The General Directorate of Metrology which has refused making public the names of the abusive petrol stations says it has imposed fines ranging from 30,000 lek to 750,000 lek to each abusive petrol station in Tirana, Durres, Kavaja, Lezha, Shkodra, Fier, Korca
Abuse of quality and quantity are frequent in Albania’s fuel market. Early in 2011, a massive fraud scheme involving the gasoline and diesel distribution system, selling mixed premium products with inferior byproducts that could have damaged thousands of vehicles and cost consumers millions was unveiled. The probe led to charges for 13 men, both public officials and businesspeople.
With an annual turnover of around 1 billion Euros, the fuel market is one of the biggest industries in the country and has a direct impact on all sectors of the economy and citizen’s welfare. Data from fuel associations show some 160 companies operate in the wholesale oil and liquid gas market and another 1,000 in the retail market, making the market fully liberalized.