The Federal Customs Service has opened a criminal case against the world’s largest clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) on customs duty evasion, Bloomberg reports citing documents in its possession.
The point is that the Russian division of H&M from 2016 to 2019 did not include in the declaration part of the licensing fees that the Swedish parent company pays when importing goods.
The agency notes that in 2019 H&M paid 3.1 billion rubles to cover the discrepancy revealed after the audit. According to the interlocutor of the Bloomberg agency, the criminal case could lead to a fine that is twice as high as this discrepancy.
The press service of H&M in Stockholm confirmed the fact of the investigation, but did not elaborate on the details, since it did not receive information from the local authorities, the agency writes.
Sales of H&M in Russia for the financial year decreased by nine percent, to 6.226 billion kroons (743.1 million dollars). The number of stores during this period was 155.
The H&M company was founded in 1947 in Sweden and is engaged in the production and sale of clothing. In addition to H&M, he develops the brands COS, Monki, Weekday, Cheap Monday and others.
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