ORTONA. The Yellow Flames of the Tenenza of Ortona – coordinated by the S.Lt. Giancarlo Passeri – at the end of a detailed investigation, on behalf of Dr. Giuseppe Falasca of the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Chieti, against a company based in the Teatro area and operating in the wholesale trade of fresh frozen and deep-frozen meat, they referred to the investigating Judicial Authority, two individuals responsible, in various capacities, for criminal crimes of a tax nature, money laundering and aggravated fraud.
The company, registered in the name of a frontman (a 47-year-old man from Ripa Teatina) who had no property and had no operational structure or capital availability, intervened, by issuing invoices for non-existent operations, quantified at over 7 million euros (plus of 750 thousand euros was the VAT debt that the State claimed towards the “paper mill” company) between the real buyer of the goods and the European supplier, creating the typical system of “carousel fraud”, taking on the VAT debt and allowing the beneficiary of fraud (a company operating in the Salerno area) of being able to purchase, as a result of non-payment of the tax, goods at a price lower than the market price.
The criminal plan was originally based on the receipt of public contributions amounting to 405 thousand euros (used for the purchase of foreign meat) – disbursed in 2020 by credit institutions, through the guarantee of the Banca del Mezzogiorno – MedioCredito Centrale Spa – aimed at the “COVID – 19 Aid Scheme”.
The illicit modus operandi was aimed at aggravated fraud, since the “dominus” created the conditions for obtaining state funds not due with the aid of financial statements and tax returns, artfully prepared by an accountant from the Chieti area, special prosecutor of the joint-stock companies, fictitiously altered through the recording of revenues never achieved, representing a corporate solidity contrary to the truth.
This conduct also brought the joint-stock company under the “magnifying glass” of the Regional Court of Auditors for the hypothesis of tax damage.
The Provincial Commander – Col. Michele Iadarola – highlights how the maximum investigative performance of the Guardia di Finanza is able to intercept the fraudulent phenomena and the conduct most harmful to the Treasury. This produces feelings of trust towards the Corps, enhancing the uniqueness of its economic-financial police action in favor of the State, citizens, virtuous businesses and the weakest sections of the population.
