Chinese merchants in a market in Hungary were recently subjected to an inspection by police, customs officials, frontier defense, and health quarantine. The market is located in the 8th District of Budapest, the capital of Hungary, and most of the stores are owned by Chinese merchants. Many merchants were forced to close their shops due to the inspection. It caused severe disruption to the normal order of business. Most of the merchants were even inspected indoors, with mandatory pat-downs.

Chinese merchants suffer from the Inspections

According to Hungarian media, the inspection started on Nov. 5. One of Budapest's two big Chinese markets went through a strict inspection which was described as a “routine check for tax evasion ahead of Christmas”. During the daylong check, no car was allowed into the market and stores had to close. At least one Chinese man was taken away by the police.

From Nov. 10 to 14, the full blockade of the market was relieved for five days; however, the “routine check” continued. Some of the merchants faced casual inspections when they opened for business on the morning of the 10th.

According to the latest news, tax checks on the two Chinese commercial markets in Budapest have become a routine. Police officers inspected the 8th District market, while Chinese stores in the 10th District were also subjected to a check by fully-armed tax police and had to close for a full day.

Although the inspection is supposedly directed towards tax evasion, the merchants affected complained that the irregular inspections have severely decreased their profits during a peak period for sales before Christmas. They called for an end to the inspections as soon as possible to reduce their losses.

Inspections of Chinese stores are common and the reason is unclear

In fact, such inspections of Chinese merchants have already taken place on several previous occasions in Hungary.

Back in 2006, Hungarina police intensified their surveillance of Chinese commercial markets. In April 2011, they dispatched 6-8 large vehicles to inspect the European Square and surrounding places.

Some people claim that the inspections have nothing to do with tax evasion.

In recent years, Chinese merchants have won a growing share of markets in Hungary with goods of high quality and credible brands. The background to these inspections lies in the economic crisis in many European countries. Economic depression accompanied by the debt crisis has forced some countries to try to raise government income by cracking down on tax evasion. Prosperous Chinese merchants may have become innocent target.

Others consider that they may in fact be a result of a report on a Hungarian website claiming that far-eastern businessmen are engaged in major tax evasion, and that the customs authorities and the tax department lack the power to deal with them. 

The article is edited and translated from《匈牙利华商市场遭遇大检查》, source: People's Daily Online, author: Sun Yang.