Following a check-up that started on March 24, the authority found the company had produced 100 million cigarettes in a fiscal warehouse in Sfantu Gheorghe, central Romania, without the consent of the brand owner. The cigarettes were marketed in EU countries and outside the EU, and the producer never paid excise duties for the merchandise.
The tax authority said in a statement Thursday the cigarette packs had no fiscal stamps for their destination countries and were marked ‘only for duty free’. Had the cigarettes been sold in Romania, their average market value would have amounted to 40 million lei, which is about EUR10 million, the tax authority said.
The tax authority is also investigating a lot of 30 million Jin Ling cigarettes produced in the same fiscal warehouse, that were destined for sale to other countries. The estimated market value of these cigarettes is of nearly EUR3 million.
The tax authority has said it will notify judicial authorities on the matter.