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The Lugo di Romagna company was the victim of three employees who, with abusive access to the IT system, had created a parallel reality in Morocco: “They wanted to steal market shares.” Taxes evaded for 130,000 euros
They would have stolen the technical drawings of more than 1,000 projects for the realization of machinery for the production of industrial systems – including packaging devices and cutters – la Ipm of Lugoin the Ravenna area, which has just under fifty employees and boasts a turnover of over 23 million euros.
But not only that, they would also have stolen some materials used for the construction of the machinery in the company, with the sole aim: to create a ghost parallel society and start the production of machinery completely similar to that of the Lugo company for stealing market share to the company who they worked for.
Disloyal employees stole projects from the Ipm company
They are three Ipm employees, an Italian and two citizens originally from Morocco, supported by the father of the latter two, external to Ipm. After investigations by the Guardia di Finanza they are held responsible for various crimes, including access abuse of the computer system, which in fact made it possible to steal the projects, the aggravated theft with regards to the theft of materials. And finally also self-laundering, a crime linked to a second line of the investigation carried out by the Fiamme Gialle of Ravenna but coordinated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Bologna.
The plan to create a “parallel” market in Morocco
Because the company created specifically to start the production of machinery, benefiting from the stolen know-how to the company, was based in Morocco. The aim would have been to operate in the shadows with regards to sales.
A long shadow that in the minds of those who were part of it, which should have made the illicit parallel market in machinery go unnoticed and at the same time should have hidden from the Italian tax the profits accrued from illegal production and trading activities (illegal because both are the result of the two crimes of illicit access to computer systems and aggravated theft). The machinery marketed by the “Moroccan” company in fact replicated the technical characteristics of the «original» Ipm.
Taxes evaded for 130,000 euros: it all started from the complaint
Following the tax audit, which covered the tax periods from 2017 to 2020it emerged that the “Moroccan” company failed to declare revenues to the Italian tax authorities for almost 1.2 million euros and evaded taxes for approximately 130 thousand euros. The investigations had already been started last year: in October 2023 the Bologna Prosecutor’s Office had ordered the preventive seizure of 325 thousand euros.
It all started when the Lugo-based company reported to the Finance Department the disappearance of the material used to produce the machinery and the suspicious movements in the software that “guards” the projects. And strong suspicions had also emerged from the market trend of reference of IPM itself.
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May 23, 2024 (modified May 23, 2024 | 12:16)
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