The fight against the VAT mafia continues
CBA officers detained another person in the Mazovia region, who belonged to an international organised crime group extorting VAT in the trade of electronics. The CBA's operation is part of an investigation conducted jointly with the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw.
Another detainee
On 10 May 2023, on the territory of the Mazovian Voivodeship, officers of the CBA Regional Office in Białystok detained a 59-year-old man, a member of an organised crime group operating in the years 2018-2019. The detainee was taken to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, where he faced prosecution charges.
International criminal group
According to the investigation findings, the organised crime group was operating between 2012 and 2018. It is alleged to defraud VAT of PLN 1.3 billion. The group was made up of citizens from Poland as well as Romania, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Russia, the United Kingdom, Latvia, China and Malaysia. The group pretended to trade in electronics and underestimated tax dues. The carousel schemes used by the criminal group were aimed in particular at extorting an undue VAT refund and concealing the criminal origin of funds under the so-called money laundering scheme.
First detentions in 2020
In 2020, officers of the CBA Regional Office in Białystok detained 8 persons in the Lubuskie and Mazowieckie Voivodeships. Among them were citizens of Poland and Ukraine. In the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, the detainees faced charges of participation in criminal activities of an organised crime group and falsification or use of invoices issued for large amounts. Over 120 CBA officers were engaged in the operation. The officers then searched more than 40 locations in the Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie, Pomorskie and Mazowieckie voivodeships.
Multi-threaded investigation - over 6 thousand volumes of files
The CBA's operation is part of an investigation conducted jointly with the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, Central Investigation Bureau of Police and the National Tax Administration into the activities of the so-called VAT mafia. Over 100 suspects have been charged in the entire investigation. The case is developmental and multi-threaded. The case files already amount to over 6 thousand volumes.
CBA Press Team
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The fight against the VAT mafia continues
