The Judicial Police (PJ) of Porto arrested this Wednesday 16 people suspected of fraud of at least six million euros. Among the detainees is an employee of the Tax and Customs Service, as well as five auto businessmen and two certified accountants.
In the course of the investigative actions, 28 vehicles, computer equipment, 2 firearms, cash and various documentation of a possible evidentiary nature were seized.
According to the JV, crimes at stake include qualified tax fraud, money laundering, document forgery, computer forgery, illegal access, corruption and the criminal community.
Operation Auto Evasão, launched after an investigation that lasted more than a year, resulted in 89 searches carried out in the municipalities of Porto, Pacos de Ferreira, Paredes, Lusada, Penafiel, Amarante, Famalican, Guimarães, Vila. Real, Chaves, Montalegri, Mursa, Peso da Régua, Santa Maria da Feira, Faro, Albufeira, Portimão and Olhão.
“The object of the investigation is a tax fraud scheme by a group of companies, created in order to artificially and deliberately change the applicable VAT regime, to create conditions so that at the end of the chain of transactions the last taxpayer manages to dispose of a car burdened with a much lower tax burden than that , which he must have by law,” can be read in a statement from PJ sent to the editorial office.
According to an authoritative source, thousands of cars were introduced to the national market at a retail price well below the normal market price. A significant distortion occurred in the automotive sector, which was accompanied by losses for the state budget, estimated at about 5.6 million euros.
The criminal organization also falsified documents and altered computer data in order to gain a prominent position in the acquisition of wealth, including real estate. The aim was to “expand its activities to other European Union countries where instrumental societies had already been established”.
Elements of the joint venture and the Tax and Customs Administration joined these steps.
Detainees between the ages of 35 and 50 will be presented to the competent judicial authority at the Criminal Investigation Court of Porto for the first judicial examination and enforcement as deemed appropriate.
Author: Tanya Orange
Source: CM Jornal
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