Lithuania’s Customs Criminal Service has uncovered a sanction circumvention scheme for car exports from Lithuania to Russia and Belarus, the service said on Friday.
The scheme was aimed at circumventing a ban on exporting trucks to Russia and Belarus, the service said.
“Trucks with semi-trailers, owned by business entities registered in Lithuania, leave for the countries in question, ostensibly to transport goods or to pick them up, but never return, and their registration is simply changed abroad,” the customs service explained how the scheme works.
A similar method is used to transport luxury cars. People register them in their own name and then do not bring them back to Lithuania: “This is an attempt to evade the stricter controls by the Lithuanian customs authorities regarding the possible entry of cars into Russia.”
According to the Customs, authorities will be monitoring the activities of companies potentially circumventing the sanctions, will reinforce controls at border posts, and will carry out regular raids and inspections.
Businesses are facing fines between 50 and 100 percent of the value of the goods for sanctions violations.
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