A nationwide mega-scam has been uncovered by the Guardia di Finanza of Savona, which obtained from the investigating judge the preventive seizure of 1 billion euros in the tax drawers of 311 economic subjects involved, holders of tax credits.
The team, led by Colonel Aldo Noceti, found that the tax credits were completely non-existent, obtained through false invoices for work to be carried out or in progress on properties owned by people resident in the Savona area.
Investigations revealed that the scam, originating from companies in the Savona area, had spread throughout Italy through other companies in the sector, many of which were “ghost” companies, totally evading taxes or having insignificant turnover and no properties to associate with the building work to obtain the relief.
Among the subjects investigated, some were recipients of citizen's income, others belonged to organized crime or had previous convictions for crimes related to drugs and public spending.
In addition, some companies that generated fictitious credits had purchased additional credits. Some entities had already unduly offset, obtaining significant tax advantages, while others had purchased blocks of fictitious credits with a nominal value of hundreds of millions of euros for negligible fees.
Thanks to the examination of the flows of transfer of fictitious credits, the investigating judge, at the request of the Savona Public Prosecutor's Office which coordinated the investigations, issued a preventive seizure order for an amount of one billion euros on the tax drawers of the 311 economic subjects involved.
The operation, called “Matrioska savonese”, involved 85 searches of companies generating fictitious credit and their legal representatives, involving over 250 military personnel in Liguria, Piedmont, Veneto, Lombardy, Trentino Alto Adige, Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Lazio, Campania and Puglia.
The investigation, extremely complex and also involving structured criminal entities, is still ongoing.
Article published on May 16, 2024 - 15:21 pm
