VAT fraud in Naples: four convictions and seven plea bargains, including public officials.

One of the most sensitive chapters in the VAT carousel fraud investigation, which rocked Naples and highlighted the involvement of dishonest public officials, has concluded with four convictions and seven plea bargains. The investigation, coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office and conducted with the support of the Naples Financial Police, has uncovered a structured criminal network capable of systematically evading VAT on the sale of electronic products.

On January 8, the Court of Naples sentenced an accountant and three entrepreneurs to prison terms ranging from six to ten years. At the same time, the confiscation of approximately three million euros, already seized, was ordered as a recovery of evaded taxes. A member of the Guardia di Finanza was acquitted in the proceedings, having been found not to have been involved in the alleged crimes.

At the same time, seven other defendants have chosen to plea bargain, with sentences now definitive. Among them are three finance officers and a director of the Revenue Agency, sentenced to up to four and a half years in prison. According to the prosecution, they received bribes to slow down criminal proceedings and tax audits, hinder the recovery of tax debts, and illegally access confidential information contained in judicial and police databases.

Another accountant, a collaborator of the group, and a fraud intermediary also pleaded guilty, confirming the existence of a transversal network capable of moving between businesses, professionals, and public bodies. A system that, according to investigators, was able to thrive precisely thanks to the complicity of those who were supposed to be supervising it.

The investigation represents the judicial culmination of a major operation launched in March 2023, when twelve people were arrested and approximately eight million euros in assets were seized. The fraudulent scheme, active between 2017 and 2022, allegedly involved approximately 170 shell companies spread across several European countries, generating an estimated volume of fictitious VAT credits of up to 200 million euros.

A devastating blow to public coffers and the credibility of institutions, which the intervention of the European Public Prosecutor's Office helped bring to light. This investigation demonstrates how large-scale tax fraud is not just a financial crime, but a direct attack on public trust and the proper functioning of the state.