DUESSELDORF (dpa) – The extreme rise in diesel prices in Germany has given rise to a new special kind of tax evasion: the “dieselisation” of common heating oil.
German customs officials at any rate, with their mobile inspection groups, have their hands full.
In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia just recently, they caught trucking firm with four lorries in which it was determined that the fuel tanks were half filled with diesel and the other half – illegally – with much cheaper heating oil.
And, in a vehicle garage on the Lower Rhine, customs agents confiscated 5,500 litres of heating oil.
On closer inspection there, they found six trucks which were outfitted
with extra concealed tanks containing heating oil. A special duct could
be opened to feed the heating oil to mix with the diesel. Down in the cellar
of the garage, a tank with 20,000 litres of heating oil was found.
“These cases are, with certainty, only the tip of the iceberg,” says
Karl Ernst, the Duesseldorf customs agent in charge of the area of consumer
product taxes.
“Amid the large price difference between diesel and heating oil, the
illegal mixing (of the two) is now more tempting than before,” he added,
noting that the trend is going on throughout Germany.
Adds Erich Schlautmann, spokesman for the superior tax authority based
on Cologne: “At a price differential of up to 70 pfennigs (31 U.S. cents)
per litre between diesel and heating oil, you can really reduce your fuel
bills.
“But mixing diesel with heating oil is no minor crime,” he warns. “There
is a fine of up to 100,000 marks (44,400 dollars) and in serious cases,
even up to five years in prison.”
In North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state with some 17
million people, the some 70 uniformed customs agents making up the mobile
inspection groups are stepping up their efforts against suspected illegal
use of heating oil by companies.
But theft of untaxed stores of diesel fuel is also on the rise. In late
August, 360,000 litres of gas-oil disappeared without a trace from a fuel
storage depots near Krefeld.
Carrying out their inspections, the customs agents have police powers
and may stop vehicles for a check. If the contents of the tank appear red,
then it is clear that there is heating oil inside. If the colour can’t
be determined, then a chemical test is applied which can determine even
small amounts of heating oil in diesel.
As Schlautmann points out, even one litre of heating oil mixed in with
five litres of diesel can mean great savings for those who drive a lot.
In other cases which have been discovered, a 35-year-old woman taxi
driver in Essen was caught with heating oil in her car’s tank. At a construction
company near Viersen, customs agents found 700 litres of heating oil in
the tanks of the excavators.
A Polish refrigerator lorry was found to have an extra hidden tank containing
279 litres of heating oil, while agents even had a case in a yacht harbour
near Bonn on the Rhine River, where a motorised yacht was found with 250
litres of heating oil.
