Customs officials were among eight people arrested in Malta on Monday in a customs fraud and corruption sting led by the EU's anti-graft agency. 

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office said it suspected that a fraudulent scheme to evade the payments of customs taxes and duty on the importation of goods from China was carried out with the complicity of customs officials.

They are suspected to have been offered bribes for their roles in the scheme in which goods were deliberately undervalued.  

Those arrested were five public officials and three suspects, who represented two companies under investigation for orchestrating the scheme. 

Times of Malta understands that the companies involved were importers of handbags and perfumes and that all eight were released on police bail on Wednesday.

Three luxury vehicles and €180,000 in cash were seized during a joint search operation conducted by the EPPO and the Malta Police Force.

Searches took place across several locations, including the customs offices, residences and businesses.

EPPO added that measures have also been taken to block all funds and immovable properties that belong to these suspects. 

“The crimes under investigation include customs fraud, corruption of public officials and money laundering. The damage to the EU budget is believed to run to millions of euro,” EPPO said. 

The operation was carried out with the support of the Malta Police Force, Malta’s Customs Enforcement Section and Malta’s Asset Recovery Bureau.

It is the first major operation of the EPPO in Malta. 

Last year the agency went from having not a single actionable report of fraud related to EU funds to becoming the country with the most reports per capita.

Malta ended 2022 with 14 investigations over projects worth a total of €123.5 million.