Two men from Malmö who run a wholesale company with e-cigarettes are suspected of having avoided paying 4.4 million kronor in nicotine tax, reports SVT News Skåne.
They have only reported a few percent of the total tax, says Sara Bjerefeldt, prosecutor at the Economic Crime Authority in Malmö to SVT.
The men have, over several years, purchased e-cigarettes from various EU countries and resold them through websites. Last year, a suspicion arose that the import did not match the actual import of e-liquid – the nicotine liquid used in e-cigarettes.
Now they are being prosecuted for gross tax fraud, gross accounting fraud, and gross obstruction of tax control.
According to SVT, this is the first time someone is being prosecuted for not paying the excise tax on e-cigarettes that was introduced six years ago.
The men deny the crimes.
