Two arrests in flagrante delicto, 19 reports at large and the seizure of 36 kilos of gold, in the form of ingots or investment pounds, 660.000 euros in cash and 5 cars.
E' the result of the investigation 'Dirty Laundry' conducted by the Guardia di Finanza of Como which concerned the sector of transnational money laundering, a phenomenon that characterizes the province of Como which is not only located on the border with Switzerland, but is also located halfway on the financial crossroads that connects Lugano to Milan.
No more heavy bricolle transported by smugglers along the rugged paths in the border woods, therefore, but comfortable cars loaded with gold and currency, hidden in well-concealed double bottoms, driven by modern 'spalloni' that run along the motorway that connects the two capitals. In reality, the financial flows that pass through Como then branch out throughout Italy. As in the episode that led to the arrest, in flagrante delicto, of two of the suspects when they were surprised by the military at the Brescia motorway exit in the act of exchanging a bundle of banknotes: 138.500 euros delivered by a Lombard entrepreneur to a 'spalloni' so that he could transfer them to Switzerland.
And it is precisely on the assets returning from Switzerland that the investigations of the Larian Guardia di Finanza have focused, not only having carried out reports and seizures against those who returned to Italy without making the required declarations to Customs, but also having investigated the ways in which the final recipients of these financial provisions built up their nest egg abroad without declaring it to the Tax Office. For this reason, the positions of those who were illegally holding money in Switzerland have been reported to the Departments of the provinces of Parma, Naples, Genoa and Trento for the appropriate tax investigations. The leaders of the association, in practice, manage financial intermediaries across the border - mostly in the form of trust companies or money changers - taking care, upon explicit request of the end customer, of the financial flow, in fact, from Switzerland to Italy, they first provide for the monetization of foreign financial flows and, subsequently, the transfer of funds by means of messengers from Italy to Switzerland, arranging for the withdrawal of cash in Italy, the transfer across the border and then the payment into specific current accounts, opened at specific Swiss banks, or the deposit in "anonymous" safety deposit boxes located not only within credit institutions but also at exchange offices.
Article published on May 4, 2020 - 09:31 pm
