Two German men and a Finnish-born woman are suspected of aggravated tax fraud and aggravated alcohol-related offences, Finnish Customs reports.
Customs suspects that a German company has illegally sold alcohol to consumers in Finland without paying taxes to the Finnish state.
Based on the preliminary investigation, the German firm evaded nearly 40 million euros in excise duties and value-added taxes due to Finnish authorities.
The firm "gained a very significant criminal benefit and a significant competitive advantage over others operating legally in the same market," chief investigator Juha Havumäki said in a press release on Friday.
The transactions were mainly conducted via the company's webshop, with the alcohol products delivered to private addresses in Finland.
A "significant portion" of the sales were to Finland, along with some to other Nordic countries and within Germany.
The preliminary investigation focused on sales over a period of more than two and a half years, from January 2019 to August 2021.
Finland has some of the EU’s steepest alcohol taxes. An Yle report late last year showed that many Finns still make trips to neighbouring Estonia specifically to buy cheaper drinks.
