The financial police of the Provincial Command of Varese have executed a preventive seizure order issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Busto Arsizio at the request of the Busto Arsizio Public Prosecutor's Office at the end of an investigation for tax crimes and fraud against a self-styled witch, operating throughout the national territory, through appearances on TV programs and the creation of social profiles, but resident in the province of Varese.
The activity originated from a complaint filed with the Guardia di Finanza by an employee defrauded by the fortune teller's activity who, in order to resolve serious family problems, had convinced the employee to give her, on several occasions, sums of money for a total amount of 31.000 euros, in cash.
In fact, the same person, after having met the medium through a TV program, was persuaded that he was facing a danger with even fatal consequences, so, always according to the fortune teller, it was necessary to invoke the shamans in order to find bones buried in seven different cemeteries and thus put an end to the cause of his evil spells.
50 people defrauded throughout Italy: over 2 million euros collected
Subsequently, through the processing of multiple data taken from the databases used by the Corps and on the basis of the analysis of reports for suspicious transactions held by the witch, the Finance Police of the Gallarate Company were able to reconstruct, through the interrogation of approximately 50 defrauded persons and the verification of the movements of the current accounts registered to the investigated person and also to her compliant family members, bank transfers for over 2 million euros in the face of omitted or undersized tax returns which were followed by an evaded IRPEF equal to approximately 900.000 euros and a VAT equal to approximately 500.000 euros.
The whirlwind credits were made from time to time on prepaid cards registered not only to the fortune teller but also to her children and grandchildren. Not only that, the family members were found to be the owners of the properties acquired with the money obtained from the illicit activity.
In fact, the Finance Police, at the end of the investigation, identified 8 properties, 1 plot of land, 20 current account relationships and a car, registered in the name of the sorceress in various ways or only formally transferred, through deeds of donation, to the aforementioned relatives. Therefore, all the assets were proposed for seizure, which was ordered by the Court of Busto Arsizio and delegated by the local Public Prosecutor's Office.
The operation of the Guardia di Finanza was developed according to the operational device of the Corps in the context of the fight against tax evasion and fraud and counterfeiting by leveraging the specific functions of economic-financial police and was conducted transversally both from an administrative-tax perspective and from a criminal perspective with the consequent preventive seizure of the illicit profit for equivalent purposes aimed at confiscation, which is mandatory in the event that the criminal proceedings end with the conviction of the suspect.
Fighting tax evasion means contributing to the prospects of recovery and relaunch of the country's economy and monitoring financial flows is the most effective method to identify capital of illicit origin, preventing forms of money laundering capable of polluting the legal economy.
