2023-12-16 12:00:52
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office investigates an alleged tax evasion of more than 74 million euros in the sale and purchase of high-end cars, which has led to 50 arrests within the framework of a network of complex tax fraud schemes.
The operation developed by the GUARD and Prosecutor of the National Police (UDEF) with the Civil Guard, directed by the European Prosecutor’s Office, was developed with searches in Madrid, Badajoz, Vizcaya, Navarra, Granada, Cáceres, Almería, Teruel, Toledo and Cantabria.
A criminal plot dedicated to fraud in intra-community acquisitions of high-end vehicles, giving rise to crimes against the Public Treasury, document falsification, money laundering and criminal organization.
The ringleaders of the alleged scam are a citizen residing in Badajoz and another from Granada who are now under the scrutiny of the authorities as being investigated for the evasion of VAT from more than 1,900 high-end vehicles throughout 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The investigation remains open, since the authorities suspect that the final number may be much higher, in a sales market from German operators to Portuguese merchants that exceeds 74 million euros.
The leaders of the organization were supposedly seeking figureheads in Germany, who acquired high-end vehicles with values between 50,000 and 200,000 euros. After its acquisition, the sale to third parties in Portugal was simulated to finish the cars in Spanish dealerships.
This movement of corrupt fiscal engineering is what is called “VAT carousel fraud” by bearing the output VAT and acquiring the right to deduct the input VAT, that is, requesting the refund of this tax from the Tax Agency.
The police operation is also investigating the dealers who finally sold the vehicles, of whom the authorities have doubts about their real knowledge of the existing plot, citing their lack of knowledge about the documentary passage of the cars through Portugal.
The investigation is currently in the phase of statements by those investigated. One of the alleged ringleaders, defended by the criminal law firm Ospina Abogados, denies the crimes he is accused of and assures that he has “always” adjusted “to the legal requirements to buy and sell these vehicles, with their due invoices and payment of taxes.” ”.
His lawyer, lawyer Juan Gonzalo Ospina, considers that the investigation is “at a preliminary stage” and he “completely” trusts his client’s innocence. “We are facing a case, like many others, where whoever sells a product was unaware of the development of tax fraud around it,” he noted.
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