Yahoo – AFP,
21 Oct 2014
Rome (AFP) - Italy's financial police on Tuesday said they had broken up a ring of companies they believe used false accounting to defraud the state out of 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of tax.
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| Italy's financial police said they had broken up a ring of companies they believe used false accounting to defraud the state of 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of tax (AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys) |
Rome (AFP) - Italy's financial police on Tuesday said they had broken up a ring of companies they believe used false accounting to defraud the state out of 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) of tax.
"The
illegal activity has led, over the years, to damages to the state... whose
total sum exceeds 1.7 billion euros" since 2001, the financial police said
in a statement.
Police said
two Rome businessmen, Pierino Tulli and Maurizio Ladaga, created a system using
false invoices issued by intermediary subcontracting companies in areas such as
security services and industrial cleaning to perpetrate the fraud.
Using these
false invoices, large sums of money were put into the accounts of shell
companies. The funds were then taken out in cash and deposited in San Marino or
Luxembourg, and the companies declared bankrupt, the police said.
A total of
62 people are suspected of taking part in the fraud to some degree.
Some 70
police were involved in the investigation across Italy, which also led to the
seizure of goods worth more than 100 million euros, including 100 properties,
two companies and hundreds of bank accounts.
Chronic
levels of tax evasion, by both individuals and companies, are considered, one
of the biggest problems faced by the eurozone's third biggest economy.
A
government report published last month estimated that the revenue shortfall is
running at 91 billion euros ($115 billion) per year, roughly the equivalent of
six percent of GDP.
Prime
Minister Matteo Renzi has promised a crackdown as he battles to get Italy's
budget deficit into line with eurozone rules and the government is counting on
raising 3.8 billion euros from such measures next year.
Economy
Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has vowed that there will be no repeat of the
amnesties for tax dodgers which past governments have resorted to in order to
encourage a short-term inflow of payments but critics say is counterproductive
in the longer term.
The tax
report also revealed that more than 700,000 snap inspections carried out last
year found irregularities in the income declarations made by 94 percent of the
companies or self-employed professionals inspected.
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