The social security contributions and IRPEF withholdings of dozens of employees were paid through compensation with VAT credits that had been artfully created through a whirlwind cycle of false invoices. It is just one of the implications of the investigation coordinated by the prosecutors of the Brescia prosecutor’s office Benedetta Callea and Carlotta Bernardini and conducted by the Guardia di Finanza of Cremona, in collaboration with the provincial commands of Brescia, Bergamo, Padua, Verona, Bolzano, Treviso and the Department Como Air Force.
The investigation led to the arrest of 12 people: 4 ended up in prison, including three from Brescia and 3 under house arrest. The remaining 5 were hit by interdictory measures. As many as 24 companies were involved in the false invoices for over 60 million euros.
The investigation, resulting from some tax audits carried out on companies in the Cremona province and developed through targeted in-depth analysis, made it possible to identify the criminal organization operating between the provinces of Cremona, Brescia, Bergamo and Verona; a partnership that from 2018 onwards was structured for the perpetration of very serious economic-financial crimes.
At the top is an entrepreneur from Rudiano
At the top of the complex fraud system was a building contractor from Rudiano, who operated through a “hidden” office in Urago d’Oglio. For the investigating judge we are faced with a real criminal association: it would have managed a dense network of companies registered in the name of compliant frontmen, with offices at non-existent addresses and included in a complex fraud system which saw companies dedicated to issuing invoices for non-existent operations. Other companies were actually operating and employed hundreds of construction workers (whose contributions were paid fraudulently) while other companies were specifically set up to launder the accumulated illicit proceeds.
False invoices for 60 million euros
Each member of the criminal group would have had specific and distinct tasks from the others, but they were all under the orders of the entrepreneur from Rudiano: according to the investigators, head of the criminal association and real owner of all the companies. A woman from Campagnola Cremasca (CR) would have worked in a hidden office in Antegnate (BG), responsible for managing the current accounts registered in the names of the 21 companies involved through the use of the IT credentials of the numerous “front men”, then carrying out, on the basis of the orders received, , the money laundering operations consisting in the transfer of 1.6 million euros to the Cremona real estate company of the group, of 200,000 euros to another company of the group created specifically for the purchase and rental of luxury vehicles, of 70,000 euros for the establishment and the start of a commercial activity in the center of Verona, as well as 204,000 euros for the purchase of Rolex watches from a shop in the province of Brescia in favor of the head of the organisation.
Even a valuable vessel, a 15-metre Riva motorboat worth around 100,000 euros, would have been fictitiously registered in the name of one of the construction companies involved in the tax fraud but used exclusively by the head of the criminal organisation.
The illicit proceeds, thus recycled and reused, would have originated from the payment of INPS and INAIL contributions and Irpef withholdings of construction workers through F24 forms with the undue compensation, for 5.5 million euros, of the fictitious VAT credits, created with the issuing of invoices for non-existent operations for 30 million euros.
Furthermore, the shares of two “safe” companies would have been fictitiously registered in the name of a holding company attributable to the same; the daughter would have dealt directly with issuing invoices for non-existent operations, while the other two members of the association would have dealt with the coordination of the “front men” as well as directly taking on the administration of various companies.
Trouble also for an entrepreneur from Adro
During the investigation, an entrepreneur from Adro also emerged as the de facto administrator of two construction companies registered in the name of “front names”, who made use of the invoices for non-existent operations issued by the criminal organization for 26 million euros, in order to evade the VAT for 3.5 million euros and create fictitious credits suitable for making undue compensation in the payment of workers’ contributions for 1.5 million euros. In this case, the accumulated illicit proceeds would have been laundered through the transfer of 3 million euros to an Austrian company and another from the province of Padua managed by two Italians originally from the provinces of Padua and Treviso but resident in Austria.
15 million euros seized
In total, 15 million euros were seized. Among the seized assets there are luxury cars, the 15-meter Roba motorboat worth 100 thousand euros, Rolex watches worth 204 thousand euros.
We are proceeding – also with the aid of “cash dog” dog units – to searches of offices and homes in the provinces of Brescia, Bergamo, Cremona, Padua, Bolzano, Treviso, Verona and the simultaneous seizure of 23 properties, 21 vehicles , 1 boat, 30 financial reports as well as cash and luxury watches available to the recipients of the precautionary measure.
Tags: top entrepreneur Rudiano
