New VAT carousel network with company structure, dozens of defendants and turnover of €84.5 million

This is not a classical lawsuit of taxation evasion involving fake invoices and manipulated institution books. The lawsuit presently successful the hands of the judiciary describes a multi-layered mechanics that allegedly combined VAT fraud, ammunition companies, wealth laundering, and the circulation of revenues that whitethorn person originated from nightlife-related activities, specified arsenic amerciable gambling clubs and providing extortion services to brothels.

The lawsuit file, which includes dozens of defendants, maps a web of companies that caused tremendous harm to the Greek State. According to the investigation, the turnover of suspicious transactions reaches €84.5 million, portion the nonaccomplishment from unpaid VAT unsocial is estimated astatine at slightest €20.3 million. However, what turns the lawsuit from a “dry” fiscal fraud into a lawsuit with characteristics of organized transgression is the explicit notation by judicial authorities to imaginable laundering of proceeds from “protection services to brothels and amerciable gambling clubs”.

At the bosom of the lawsuit lies the alleged “VAT carousel” mechanism, a signifier that has acrophobic respective European countries and is often utilized successful large-scale fiscal transgression cases. According to the file, the companies progressive carried retired continuous buy-and-sell transactions among themselves, issuing invoices and transferring VAT from 1 to another. Along the chain, the taxation work ended up successful companies with nary existent activity, the alleged “shell companies”, which either disappeared oregon near down immense debts to the State.

Triangular transactions
The web allegedly utilized fake invoices, mendacious taxation declarations, over-invoicing and triangular transactions, arsenic good arsenic companies created exclusively to accumulate debts and past disappear. In this way, according to the authorities, those progressive not lone avoided paying VAT but successful immoderate cases besides managed to get taxation refunds from the State.

According to the investigative order, cardinal members of the enactment allegedly created, betwixt 2020 and 2025, a web of companies acting either arsenic intermediate links oregon last recipients of taxation obligations. The lawsuit record refers to “visible and hidden partners”, arsenic good arsenic companies registered successful the names of peripheral members oregon nominal owners who were not the existent operators. This operation allowed the main actors to determination ample sums of wealth without appearing straight successful each firm layers.

The astir important portion of the lawsuit concerns the probe of nightlife-related activity. Judicial authorities picture that portion of the suspected illicit proceeds whitethorn beryllium linked to “protection services to brothels and amerciable gambling clubs”. The usage of aggregate companies and continuous transfers of wealth from relationship to relationship make a analyzable representation that makes it hard to hint the archetypal root of funds. Of peculiar involvement is besides the notation to nationalist works. Although nary circumstantial task oregon nationalist authorization is named truthful far, judicial authorities enactment that the network’s practices created “conditions of unfair competition” successful applicable tender processes.

Findings
The companies astatine the halfway of the lawsuit were active, according to the record and the study of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority, chiefly successful construction, telecommunications, catering and information services. According to the findings, immoderate businesses appeared to person beardown commercialized activity, without having the corresponding existent infrastructure, staff, oregon fiscal capableness to warrant the standard of their transactions.

In 1 case, invoices and slope payments exceeding €1.3 cardinal appeared for materials allegedly transported by circumstantial trucks. However, erstwhile authorities checked the route, it emerged that the institution supposedly selling the materials had nary existent headquarters, nary staff, and nary infrastructure for specified activity, and crucially, nary declared suppliers from which it could person purchased those materials to resell them. The owners of the trucks listed successful the shipping documents told authorities they had nary transportation to the companies involved, had not issued transport documents, had nary contracts, and ne'er utilized their vehicles for the stated transports.

A akin representation emerged successful different lawsuit wherever different institution successful the aforesaid web appeared to merchantability method materials worthy implicit €300,000, aboriginal reduced to astir €117,000 aft recognition invoices. There too, inspectors recovered the aforesaid signs: deficiency of existent activity, lack of unit and premises, nary suppliers justifying the sales, nary contracts betwixt companies, and usage of a third-party motortruck institution that besides denied immoderate involvement.