The Tax Agency and the National Police, under the direction of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in Spain, have dismantled a criminal organization with ramifications in Latin America in the framework of the investigation into VAT fraud in the trade of computer equipment estimated at more than 25 million euros.
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In the context of the same investigation, a total of 13 searches have been carried out this week in Madrid, Guadalajara and Cádiz, and 24 people have been arrested.
As a result of the searches, which required the deployment of more than 200 members of the Tax Agency and National Police, assets worth more than 4.8 million euros have been seized, including numerous properties and vehicles in Spain and 135,000 euros in cash, as well as objects of great value, various electronic devices and computer equipment, and abundant documentation.
In turn, hundreds of bank accounts have been frozen in Spain, Belgium, Lithuania and Romania, while seizure orders and other investigative measures have been issued in Latin America.
This complex investigation, which has led to the dismantling of one of the criminal organizations considered most active in the field of VAT fraud, has been developed over two years and has revealed that between 2021 and 2023 those investigated created a complex corporate structure formed by a multiplicity of entities in Spain, in other EU Member States and in Latin America, to channel intra-community acquisitions destined for the main company of those investigated, which acted as a distribution node.
The main investigator, a person with numerous police and judicial records, had numerous reptiles and exotic species, 85,0000 euros in cash and a collection of luxury watches at his home.
The evidence detected shows, in turn, that those investigated used structures and security measures typical of organized crime groups, including electronic communication applications used to avoid detection by the authorities. In this sense also, during the searches several crypto wallets and a 'token' generator were also intervened.
Those investigated are suspected of having committed three crimes against the public treasury as part of an organized crime group, as well as crimes of money laundering and currency counterfeiting. ■