Czech Republic forms special police unit to fight tax crimes

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said that Cobra, the special police team called of up to 100 member to more efficiently fight large-scale tax evasion and tax crime more efficiently has begun operating in the Czech Republic, the Czech newswire Ceskenoviny reported, June 13.

“The team is to expand to the regions later – after signing an implementation protocol – which will enable to officially launch the Cobra team’s work as of June 15,” said Chovanes, as cited by the newswire. “I would like to know the tea’s first results at the end of this year.”

The minister also added that in the past the police, customs and financial authorities acted separately in the fight against tax crime, which, according to Chovanec, was not very efficient.

“The new team has a clear structure and function and it will be therefore more efficient,” added Chovanec, as cited by the newswire.

The Czech Cobra team was formed following the experience of Slovakia, where such a group for fighting tax evasion and other tax scams had been operating. Cobra will deal mostly with tax fraud causing damages of more than CZK 150 mln.

The Cobra team is due to operate directly under the Czech anti-corruption police. It will comprise specially trained police officers supported by state-of-the-art equipment.

In 2013, the Czech anti-corruption police investigated tax fraud causing more than CZK 36 bln damages to the state, which equals to a rise of almost CZK 15 bln year-on-year in comparison to 2012.