An order for the application of personal and real precautionary measures issued by the investigating judge of Turin at the request of the local office of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, was executed by the soldiers of the economic-financial police unit of the provincial commands of the GdF of Matera and Turin against fourteen people: 8 ended up in prison, while six were under house arrest.
For the execution of the precautionary measure, which involved the provinces of Matera, Turin, Foggia, Bari, Campobasso, Rome and Trieste, coordinated in three other European Union states adhering to Eppo, canine units specialized in research were also used of cash.
Preventive seizure of the profit of over 15 million euros was carried out, for criminal association aimed at committing VAT fraud, fraudulent evasion of the payment of consumption tax and self-laundering.
The subjects operating in Italy, Estonia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Belgium. through a branched criminal network, they introduced and marketed large quantities of lubricating oils for vehicles (cars and trucks), intended for sale to consumers, with “under the table” payments, implementing multiple strategies aimed at evading VAT and national tax envisaged, both through the interposition of “paper mill” companies (without a real operational structure) on which to burden the taxes due, which are systematically not paid, and by setting up ingenious systems to avoid controls and sanctions.
That is, the creation and use of tax documents with the indication of non-existent subjects, both as senders and as recipients, to be used in the event of checks during the transport of the goods; of transport documents indicating compliant recipients; of copies of delivery notes made by color photo copying from the originals, for the first release for consumption with subsequent destruction of the copies (artificially used along the way), once the transport has been completed, upon arrival of the load at destination and in the absence of checks along the itinerary; the use of companies set up specifically to allow illegal purchases of lubricating oil, otherwise indicated on the transport documents such as windshield washer fluid and shampoo.
The searches and computer analyzes also made it possible to reveal that a company operating in Matera, one of the main “hubs” for the sale of lubricating oils in central and southern Italy, which also obtained supplies through the criminal association, systematically marketed ” “under the table” the lubricating oil purchased, reselling it to other compliant operators in the sector, hiding the product worth over 52 million euros from the tax authorities, as ascertained through the analysis of the server containing the company’s hidden accounting.
During the investigations, eighteen seizures were made on the national territory of consignments of goods imported and marketed illegally, for over 470 tons of lubricating oil as well as other similar products.
Hypotheses of laundering of illicit proceeds and counterfeiting of lubricating oil brands also emerged, given that the bulk product was marketed (removing the original labels and affixing others specially printed by a compliant printer), reporting brands, physical characteristics and indications of use relating to product types of greater commercial value.
The overall verified evasion, for the years 2017/2023, is equal to over 14 million euros of VAT and over one million euros of national consumption tax.
The preventive seizure, also for equivalent, of financial resources and other assets was also ordered up to the amount of €15,448,000, an amount corresponding to the profit from VAT fraud and evasion of consumption tax.
