The Financial Guard’s siege on cigarette smugglers

The Financial Guard is the most feared state institution in the fight against cigarettes traffickers – those small-time smugglers who illegally bring cigarettes across the border. Its inspectors carry guns, but more important, they are empowered to impose the highest fines against smugglers – up to €30,000.

The guard can launch surprise investigations to prevent and combat crime in the financial and customs fields which involve tax avoidance. It is part of the county’s Revenue Services and the National Fiscal Administration Agency, a division of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In the 10 months between January and October 2007, the guard documented the following actions on the most active borders for tobacco trafficking. The guard in Timis and Mehedinti counties showed much better results than colleagues in Caras – Severin County.

Timis County

The Timis County Financial Guard investigated 125 companies and 34 individuals and seized 73,000 packs of cigarettes (Memphis, Ron Son, Ron Hill, Monte Carlo, VP International, Temp, Winston, L&M, Plug Arul, Marble, and LD). It imposed fines totaling almost €335,000, 10 times more than in Caras – Severin County.

In Timis County the number of violations dropped in 2007 by comparison with 2006, but the amount of seized cigarettes grew.

Mehedinti County

The Mehedinti County Financial Guard investigated three small entrepreneurs and 22 other individuals and seven companies, including some registered in other counties including Constanta, Buzau and Bucharest. They gave six severe warnings, 26 fines worth €180,000, and otherwise penalized nine companies. It seized 50,504 packs of cigarettes (Ron son, Park, Ashman, Strand, Marble, Ronnie, Davidoff, L&M, Assoc, Marlboro, Winston, Plug Arul, Floyd, Brass etc.) valued at more than €46,000.

The number of seized packs of cigarettes grew by 473 percent, and fines grew by 1,064 percent in 2007 when compared to 2006 numbers.

Caras – Severin County

The Caras – Severin County Financial Guard seized 16,000 packages of cigarettes (Marble, Ronson and Bond) worth €19,000 and imposed fines of almost €30,000.

The Caras – Severin guard refused to provide statistics comparing its performance in 2006 to 2007.