A Maltese businessman who is wanted in Sweden as part of a Europe-wide investigation into VAT fraud was granted bail on Thursday after his wife and three children stepped in as third-party guarantors.
Mohan Bharwani, 57, from Sliema, has spent the past week in custody after he was arrested on the back of a European Arrest Warrant issued by the Swedish authorities as part of an investigation into a €195 million VAT fraud case.
According to Europol, Bharwani and 14 others are believed to have orchestrated the fraud across 17 countries. Their arrests were the result of an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), with over 180 searches carried out simultaneously in Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.
A bail application filed by Bharwani’s lawyers was accepted by Magistrate Leonard Caruana, with a hefty sum attached to his freedom.
He was ordered to pay a €40,000 deposit with a personal guarantee of €60,000. An additional pledge of €25,000 was required from his wife and three children, two of whom are understood to be students.
Bharwani was also ordered to attend all court sittings, not to travel or approach the coast or the airport, sign the bail book twice a day and observe a curfew between 8pm and 6.30am.
Lawyers Stefano Filletti, Giannella de Marco and Maurice Meli appeared for Bharwani.
In a statement, Europol previously said the searches carried out yielded vast quantities of smartphones, worth more than €15.3 million, as well as a yacht worth €3 million, and €1.2 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
Luxury cars including a Rolls Royce, a BMW and a Range Rover as well as a number of luxury watches and 2.5 kilos of gold were also seized from the homes of the suspects.
It is understood that the VAT fraud scheme operated through a complex ecosystem of several criminal schemes involving the sale of small electronic devices like smartphones.
The suspects are believed to have made use of chains of missing traders, who would vanish without making good on their tax obligations.
Over 180 searches were carried out simultaneously in Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.
Bharwani was arrested last week, while the police were searching his property in San Ġwann.
Europol said the investigation revealed that the suspected organisers of the VAT fraud scheme created a complex criminal ecosystem, which allowed them to defraud up to €195 million through several criminal schemes involving the sale of small electronic devices, such as smartphones.
It is understood that the suspects used fraudulent chains of missing traders, who would vanish without fulfilling their tax obligations.
In 2020, the same organisers of these VAT fraud schemes are believed to have entered the market for protective face masks.
The company managed by the suspects is understood to have bought them from a missing trader, and channeled them through several buffer companies to disguise their final destination.
On paper, their company was based in Hong Kong, but the face masks were actually in a warehouse in Germany, and remained there until the German Federal Ministry of Health purchased them from the company ostensibly based in Hong Kong.