In an investigation led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Bologna (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Bologna and Prato have executed a freezing order of €7.3 million on the bank accounts of a freight forwarding company suspected of VAT fraud relating to the illegal importation of fabric from China.
Today, 80 law enforcement officers of the Guardia di Finanza are also conducting numerous searches, with the support of three canine units with cash-dogs in the provinces of Prato, Bologna and Ferrara.
The investigation currently focuses on eight individuals and seven companies, suspected of evadingVAT payment on the importation of more than 13 600 tonnes of textiles, worth around €63 million, from China into the European Union. The suspects are the owners and managers of customs shipping companies in the provinces of Prato and Bologna, operating with Chinese entrepreneurs who are also under investigation for the same offences. They are suspected of smuggling, ideological forgery, and the issuing and use of invoices for non-existent operations.
The investigation, conducted by the Guardia di Finanza with the support of the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli), revealed that the importers, despite having lodged customs declarations for this purpose, omitted to move their goods to so-called ‘tax warehouses’ – a system that would have suspended the payment of the import VAT at that time. If done correctly, the VAT would have been paid later, when the goods were exiting the tax warehouse. Instead, the imported goods were moved directly to the warehouses of the companies under investigation, thus allowing them to be immediately released to the importers, in breach of customs regulations and without paying the VAT due.
The estimated VAT loss caused by this criminal scheme is more than €13 million. The judge for preliminary investigations of the Court of Bologna ordered, at the request of the EPPO, a freezing of assets worth €7.3 million.
All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.
The EPPO is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union; it is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.
