Customs duties in the millions
Authorities arrest Chinese entrepreneurs in France
06/04/2023 10:58 am
A Chinese entrepreneur is said to have systematically withheld customs duties and laundered money. The man who founded an e-bike company in Germany is being held in custody near Paris. His lawyer believes he should be made a scapegoat.
A Chinese entrepreneur has been arrested in France who is said to have owed millions in customs duties with his e-bike company Leon Cycle, which was founded in Germany. As the AFP news agency learned from his lawyer Rodrigue Flahaut-Prévot, investigations were launched against the 43-year-old Chinese, as a result of which he was arrested. Investigative circles said he had been taken into custody in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris.
According to information from the newspaper “Le Parisien”, Lijun D. is suspected of having set up a system with which he has withheld a total of 26 million euros in customs duties from the EU since 2018. According to his lawyer, the entrepreneur denies the allegations.
suspicion of money laundering
According to “Parisien”, the investigators targeted D. after examining a container with goods in a French port a few months ago, the country of origin of which was given as South Korea. Goods from South Korea have significantly lower EU customs duties than imports from China. According to the report, D. is also suspected of having laundered money.
According to the company website, Leon Cycle GmbH was founded in Hanover in 2014. In addition to Germany, the company is also present in France, Italy, Spain, the USA and Australia. All of their electric bikes are said to be designed in Germany and produced in Western Europe.
D’s lawyer announced that he would apply for his client’s release on Monday. He expressed the fear that the entrepreneur would be made a pawn in a “trade war between Europe and China”.