Joint action of the CBA and the Central Investigation Bureau of Police (CBŚP). Blow to the "VAT Mafia"
Another joint action of the Regional Office of the CBA in Białystok and the Regional Office of the Central Investigation Bureau of Police in Olsztyn. Four persons have been detained in connection with the investigation concerning swindling or an attempt to extort over 150 million zlotys.
The officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Białystok, together with the officers of the Department for Combating Organized Economic Crime of the Regional Office of the Central Investigation Bureau of Police in Olsztyn, have detained four members of an organized criminal group. The group extorted or tried to extort from the state budget undue reimbursement of VAT in the amount of many tens of millions of zlotys. The action was nationwide – the officers operated in the Śląskie, Dolnośląskie, Lubuskie, Wielkopolskie, Mazowieckie and Opolskie Voivodeships.
The agents of the CBA and the officers of the CBŚP have searched, among others, the suspects' places of residence, securing data carriers and accounting documentation of entities used in criminal activities.
The detainees will be transferred to the headquarters of the Podlasie Terrain Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Białystok, where they will be charged.
The indicated activities are connected with the investigation jointly conducted by the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Bialystok and the Regional Office of the Central Investigation Bureau of Police in Olsztyn, supervised by the Podlasie Terrain Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Białystok. The proceedings concern the organised criminal group, operating since January 2015 until December 2016 in Poland, Germany and Estonia, with the aim of committing crimes, including fiscal offenses related to exposure to depletion and extortion of VAT tax.
Joint actions of investigators have allowed so far to charge 21 persons with extortions or the attempt to extort over 150 million zlotys, and the value of confirmed fictitious invoices exceeds 750 million zlotys. The case is developmental, further detentions are not ruled out.
This is not the first joint action of the officers of the Regional Office of the CBA in Bialystok and the Regional Office of the Central Investigation Bureau of Police in Olsztyn, aimed at actions detrimental to the economic interests of the State Treasury. As part of the same investigation, in October 2018, the officers of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Central Investigation Bureau of Police have detained in Warsaw and neighbouring towns four persons – members of an organised criminal group, who were charged with participation in a criminal group and falsification of documents.