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bne November 2019 Companies & Markets I 11
Slovak financial administration uncovered the biggest illegal factory in central Europe
Nelly Tomchikova in Prague
The Slovak Financial Administration has uncovered the biggest illegal cigarette producing factory in central Europe in Slovakia, according to its press release from October 16.
The office closed three production and packaging lines for cigarettes and raw tobacco leaves, confiscated 21,719 kg
of tobacco and tobacco raw materials and 12,648,870 cigarettes without a Slovak control label in Velke Kostolany, Trnava Region.
“The Financial Administration has been successful in its interventions in the illegal production and sale of tobacco products on several occasions this year,” said Head of Financial Administration Lenka Wittenbergerova, as cited by the Slovak News Agency.
The damage to the state budget has been estimated at about €2.5mn on excise tax on tobacco products. 47 people of Romanian, Moldovan and Ukrainian nationality have been detained.
Chinese to invest €300mn in new plant in Czech Republic
IntelliNews Pro
Chinese CITIC Dicastal, a manufacturer of aluminum automotive components, plans to build a new plant worth CZK7.7bn (€300mn) with the company Zdas in the Czech Republic. The project will create 500 jobs, said the President spokesman Jiri Ovcacek for the Czech News Agency (CNA) on October 17.
The President's Chancellor Vratislav Mynar said the investment should be confirmed at the Czech-Chinese investment forum, which should be held at the Prague Castle this year. Mynar also stressed that the investment has been pre-agreed between the Czech President Milos Zeman and
Chinese President Xi Jinping during Zeman's visit to China.
According to Mynar the company planned to increase its production in the Maroco factory, however, “after the CITIC Chairman (Chang Zhenming) promised this investment to the Czech president, it will be built in Zdas site” instead.
The investment was also confirmed CITIC Europe Holdings Vice-Chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik on twitter. According to him, CITIC's investments also include football club Slavia in Prague. CITIC Dicastal is a subsidiary of the Chinese CITIC Group, which is also 100% owner of Zdas.
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