Fake invoices for 1.3 billion euros: a major operation in Italy and abroad
Massive VAT evasion in the IT sector, 43 arrests and seizures for 520 million euros
A criminal association aimed at tax fraud and money laundering, aggravated by mafia methods , was dismantled in an operation involving the offices of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Milan and Palermo. A total of 47 personal precautionary measures were carried out, at the request of the Lombardy investigating judge, seizures of goods, valuables and money for 520 million euros and false invoices for 1.3 billion euros were reconstructed .
In particular, the restrictive measures - 34 in prison, 9 under house arrest and 4 interdiction measures - concern suspects held responsible, in various capacities, for criminal association aimed at evading intra-Community VAT in the trade of IT products and laundering the related profits. In relation to the management of some companies, for which bankruptcy proceedings are underway, the restrictive measures also concern bankruptcy crimes. Seven of the recipients of the prison measures are abroad : a European arrest warrant has been issued for them, four of which in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Spain and Bulgaria.
Instead, the preventive seizure , also for equivalent, of goods, securities and money for over 520 million euros was ordered against the people and companies investigated , identified as the overall profit of the fraud, equal to the evaded VAT, and the preventive seizure for money laundering of some residential and real estate complexes with a total value of over 10 million euros in Cefalù (Palermo), as well as other real estate attributable to some of the companies, falling within the territories of Chiavari (Genoa), Bellano (Lecco), Noli (Savona), Cinisello Balsamo (Milan) and Milan. The judge recognized for the leaders of the group the aggravating circumstance of having facilitated, by investing the profits in the VAT fraud sector, criminal gangs of the Camorra and the Mafia and of having made use of the Mafia method.
The investigation
The investigation was born from the convergence of two distinct investigative lines originating from the Economic and Financial Police Units of Varese and Milan with Eppo Milan on the subject of carousel fraud, and from the Flying Squad of Palermo and Sisco, with the investigative and operational coordination of the Central Operational Service, and from the Pef Unit of Palermo with the local office of Eppo, in which emerged, as stated in a note from the prosecutor's office, "the participation in the commission of carousel fraud of exponents of organized crime of the mafia and camorra type , managers of some of the supply chains of companies used in the circuits already under investigation in Milan and also in charge of reinvesting the illicit profits". The two proceedings were merged, thus allowing a single request to be made for the application of precautionary measures, then accepted by the investigating judge of Milan.
Over 160 searches in 30 different provinces at homes, offices and companies attributable to the suspects , also carried out with the help of the Guardia di Finanza's cash dog units, specialized in finding hidden banknotes. A total of 200 people are under investigation and over 400 companies are involved, many of which are accused of administrative offences deriving from these crimes, as provided for by Legislative Decree 231/2001. Concurrent activities for the enforcement of restrictive measures, searches and seizures are underway in the EU countries affected by the fraud and, in particular, in Spain, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Netherlands, and in non-EU countries, such as Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.
