Russian customs officials are suspected of taking part in a large-scale fraud, in which consignments on Finnish trucks have made it to their Russian destinations without having to pay the appropriate customs duties, writes the Russian daily Kommersant in its Thursday edition.
According to an internal investigation by Russian Customs, no fewer than 1,356 truckloads that passed through the Torfyanovka and Brusnitshnoje border stations were declared without collecting the relevant tolls.
Kommersant claims that the trucks of 14 Finnish transport operators that import footwear, clothes, and electronics into Russia are involved in the scam.
Russian Customs estimate that it has lost some 24 million euros in unpaid tolls.
"In the Vyborg Customs District there is an established group of customs officials who protect the smugglers by pretending they comply with due customs procedures", says an anonymous source from Russian Customs Administration, interviewed by Kommersant.
The case is being investigated by the St. Petersburg prosecutor. Kommersant confirms that the head of the Torfyanovka Customs Andrei Andrejev and the operations supervisor Aleksei Popov of the Vyborg Customs District have been dismissed.
The suspected customs officials are on sick leave.
The financial manager of the Finnish Transport and Logistics (SKAL) Veikko Kurronen says he is convinced that the Finnish trucking companies have been unaware of any possible customs frauds.
Kurronen knows that court cases are planned against three Finnish hauliers in Russia.
According to the Kommersant source, the Vyborg customs officials' fraudulent conduct would not have been possible without a nod from higher up the Customs administration.
Customs officials at the final destination points of the consignments always confirmed they were delivered in full.
