Hundreds of fraudulent invoices
Officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau detained four people allegedly involved in the use of fraudulent VAT invoices for tax purposes. The detainees were charged with money laundering. The investigation into the intellectual falsification of invoices is supervised by the Warszawa-Praga Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw.
On 13 February 2025, officers from the CBA Regional Office in Łódź detained two women and two men in an investigation concerning the issuing of fraudulent invoices between 01.01.2019 and 31.12.2024. Among the detainees, the owner of 4 companies, operating in the food industry, who actually supervised other entities involved in the criminal procedure of using false invoices. On the order of the prosecutor, the chief accountant and two persons representing other business entities were also detained.
Officers of the CBA, together with officers of the Mazovian Customs and Tax Office secured financial and accounting documentation of the companies and electronic equipment. Procedural activities were conducted on the territory of the Mazowieckie and Łódzkie Voivodeships, i.e. in the places of residence of the detainees and in the offices of 2 companies.
Fake economic activity
According to the findings of the investigation, invoices which did not document real economic transactions were used between related entities in the food services industry. Nearly 10 entities, whose activities were supervised by one of the detainees, participated in the criminal procedure. The man used the bank accounts of these companies to fake payments in business transactions. The accountant was to deal with the settlement and posting of transactions resulting from fraudulent invoices, which was to create the illusion of conducting business activity in this area and to prevent or impede the establishment of the criminal origin of funds subject to turnover in bank accounts. The company was operating a large-scale business and the ‘false invoices’ were a way of demonstrating the high costs of the business. Preliminary findings indicate that the value of the fraudulent VAT invoices may amount to nearly PLN 6 million.
Money laundering charges
The detainees were brought to the Warszawa-Praga Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw. They were charged with intellectual forgery of invoices and money laundering.
Due to the necessity to secure the proper course of proceedings, after carrying out procedural activities with suspects, the prosecutor applied preventive measures against each of them in the form of a property surety in the amount of PLN 100,000 to PLN 500,000, police supervision and a ban on contacting specific persons. Cash, gold coins, jewellery and expensive watches have been secured on the suspects’ property as security for the penalties.
This is the first procedural implementation in an ongoing pre-trial investigation. The case is ongoing. Further activities are planned.
CBA Press Team
