Economic crime report 2004 - Ekobrottsmyndigheten

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Economic Crime – Current Status and How It Has Changed Suspected tax violations and crimes against creditors account for the majority of economic crimes that are reported and prosecuted. The number of tax offences rose by 30% from 4,459 in 2001 to 5,817 in 2003. With respect to crimes against creditors (Part 11 of the Penal Code), bookkeeping offences increased by 20% from 4,846 in 2001 to 5,850 in 2003. Other reported crimes against creditors were up by a modest 13% from 729 in 2001 to 824 in 2003. Prosecuted tax offences in 2003 totalled 403, a figure that has remained relatively stable since 1998. Prosecuted crimes against creditors, including bookkeeping offences, numbered 990 in 2003, also fairly steady since 1998. Reported violations of the Insider Penal Act increased from 3 in 2001 to 15 in 2003. Reports of improper influence on share prices rose from 2 in 2001 to 6 in 2003. Reported EU fraud cases were up from 8 in 2002 to 26 in 2003. Thus, reported economic crimes have increased over the past three years. But since so many cases go unreported, it is difficult to draw any reliable conclusions from the above figures. Most probably the number of crimes has not significantly increased or decreased. In any case, neither SKV nor the other agencies – primarily EBM, the police, Customs and the Office of the Prosecutor-General – that work together in combating economic crime have noticed any such tendencies. Nevertheless, certain trends can be identified, although it is to early to tell whether they are affecting the number of prosecutions. The first trend is that economic crime has become harder to investigate. The offences are being planned more carefully and involving a greater number of people. Both the globalization process and accelerating technological progress further complicate the matter. The second trend is that even people who commit other offences are engaging in economic crime. Links to other serious crime are becoming more and more common. As a result, a growing number of economic offences are attributable to organized crime. Characteristic features of 2
such criminality are that it includes several types of illegality, is international in scope and is carried out by closely-knit groups or networks. A third trend is that the offenders place themselves out of reach by appointing fictitious foreign individuals to corporate boards and engaging in other similar ruses. Due to advances in information technology, capital can be moved across national borders to an extent that was unheard of before. It is no exaggeration to maintain that today’s sophisticated IT is well suited for the commission of economic crime. E-commerce, particularly over the Internet, can aggravate any attempt to identify the seller or establish a fiscal domicile. The Internet is not only a marketplace, but a vehicle for worldwide funds transfer. Thus, technology has provided economic offenders with a tool for both committing crimes and laundering the proceeds that their acts generate. An important phenomenon to keep an eye on is how young people feel about economic crime. The 1998-2001 periodic attitude surveys conducted by the Swedish Tax Agency (SKV) noted an increasing acceptance of undeclared work by young people. A series of similar studies commissioned by EBM have shown that young people take a more lenient stance on undeclared work and economic crime than did previous generations. A somewhat different perspective emerged following an informational drive aimed at 16-20 year olds that SKV carried out in 2002-03. In order to measure the impact of the campaign, a preliminary survey was conducted in the spring of 2002. Following a year of activities, a new study in the spring of 2003 indicated that more young people had an unfavourable view of and rejected undeclared work. Now that the informational effort has proceeded for another year, the results of a third survey are in the process of compilation. Preliminary findings suggest that attitudes are continuing to change. Thus, SKV has established that such campaigns can change the way that people look at these matters. Our understanding of young people’s views on economic crime is neither unambiguous nor complete. How they feel about such offences is key to predicting future crime trends. Thus, more in-depth information needs to be gathered in this area. 3
Page 1 and 2: ECONOMIC CRIME REPORT Report no. 20
Page 3 and 4: Economic Crime Report
Page 5 and 6: Government Swedish Ministry of Just
Page 7: Economic Crime and Efforts to Comba
Page 12 and 13: Economic Consequences of Economic C
Page 14 and 15: Interagency Cooperation Measures Th
Page 16 and 17: Undeclared Work • Employers who h
Page 18 and 19: A CLOSER LOOK AT UNDECLARED WORK, V
Page 20 and 21: VAT Fraud There is always a risk th
Page 22 and 23: Trends Over the Next Three Years Fo
Page 24 and 25: Concluding Remarks The purpose of t
Page 27 and 28: Contents 1. Introduction 6 2. Curre
Page 29 and 30: 10.5 NATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION PROJ
Page 31 and 32: Table 31 Number of decisions by oth
Page 33 and 34: 2. Current Status of Economic Crime
Page 35 and 36: detected offences are documented, a
Page 37 and 38: sentative of both commercial goods
Page 39 and 40: mentary evidence for verifying actu
Page 41 and 42: SKV put together documentation to l
Page 43 and 44: that a certain volume of uncollecte
Page 45 and 46: Table 3 Estimated tax error linked
Page 47 and 48: The minimum tax rates on alcohol ar
Page 49 and 50: • Businesses, such as: - Tax plan
Page 51 and 52: According to the court of appeal, t
Page 53 and 54: loan prohibition, the Accounting Ac
Page 55 and 56: 4. It has a definite focus, though
Page 57: “A number of groups are engaged i
Page 60 and 61:
Council and its task force have con
Page 62 and 63:
Special joint consultation groups f
Page 64 and 65:
4. Intelligence and Monitoring Oper
Page 66 and 67:
The total money involved in transac
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Intelligence Operations of Tax Crim
Page 70 and 71:
Graph 13 Number of audits, 2000-200
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2002 to 2003. The sums involved in
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Money Laundering, etc. A newly esta
Page 76 and 77:
Since the project started on 1 Apri
Page 78 and 79:
Manipulated cash registers are the
Page 80 and 81:
professional criminals to one degre
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official figures. In the autumn of
Page 84 and 85:
ookkeeping offences continued to ac
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Graph 25b Total number of reports o
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Graph 26 Cases received, 1998-2003
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Table 30 Number of decisions by EBM
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Graph 34 Average throughput time fo
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6.5 TAX CRIME UNITS Expansion of ta
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Graph 38 Trading prohibitions, 1998
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9. Attachment, Collection, etc. The
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Graph 43 Unpaid taxes and fees (SEK
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Since a coordinated effort to recov
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According to the proposals, the age
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and employers concerning registrati
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suggest that attitudes are continui
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84 • a regional informational pro
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12. International Contact and Coope
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13. Skills and Methods Development
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Since the autumn of 2002, EBM has c
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nesses under their control, grant l
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social insurance offices could prev
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15 Problem Areas and Future Threats
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• higher unemployment • distort
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15.3 UNDECLARED WORK IN CASH SECTOR
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EBM’s pilot project on measures f
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15.5 AGENTS WHO AID ECONOMIC CRIME
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ied out indicate that most transact
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Appendix 1 CHANGES PROPOSED BY SAME
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SKV • SKV should have limited aut
Page 138 and 139:
Transport Workers’ Union VAT Info
Page 140:
Reported economic crimes have incre
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Economic crime report 2004 - Ekobrottsmyndigheten

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