The company C&A Serbia filed for insolvency after having been “the target of organized customs fraud committed by unknown perpetrators”, a company press release said.

“The perpetrators systematically performed over 300 fraudulent acts violating Serbian customs regulations. Affected by this decision are 14 stores and about 135 employees in Serbia. This situation is very specific and applies to Serbia only,” said the company.

“C&A Serbia has been the target of organized customs fraud committed by one of its business partners and other perpetrators who are still unknown. The said perpetrators have performed over 300 fraudulent imports systematically by abusing the C&A logo, beneficial customs status and the representation powers of the C&A customs representative in Serbia. The crime was discovered in October 2021 when C&A was first informed of these fraudulent imports by the Serbian Customs Authority,” the company said.

“After months of investigation and despite evidence supporting the position that C&A Serbia should not bear the consequences of that crime, the Serbian Customs Authority took the position that C&A Serbia is liable to pay customs duties for the goods declared within the fraudulent imports,” said the company.

“After a thorough analysis of the situation, C&A Serbia’s Management Team has come to the conclusion that the risks involved in further contesting the legal position upheld by the Serbian authorities cannot be borne responsibly. Given the financial scope of demands against C&A Serbia, the Management Team was forced to file for insolvency today. Future proceedings will be handled by an appointed insolvency receiver,” said C&A Serbia.

The daily Blic earlier said that Serbia discovered that this company had been smuggling Chinese goods into the country for almost seven years which damaged the budget of Serbia by six million Euro.