“Factory of invoices”
The CBA officers in cooperation with the National Tax Administration (KAS) have dismantled an organised crime group and detained 34 individuals, who faced charges of the “VAT crime” in the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw. The value of fraudulently issued VAT invoices recurring in the investigation exceeds PLN 1 billion.
Under the supervision of the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, the officers of the CBA Regional Office in Katowice in cooperation with the Mazovian Customs and Fiscal Office in Warsaw have been carrying out an investigation into the operation of an organised crime group which issued and used fraudulent VAT invoices, certifying an untruth, in exchange for financial gain and in order to reduce the amount of public law liabilities. The group operated in the years 2012 - 2020. These new proceedings have been carried out for several months.
The current findings indicate that the group issued cost invoices within a number of companies – at present, about 100 entities have been identified – which were then purchased by other entities. The scheme aimed to understate public-law liabilities towards the State Treasury. The issued documents included various services and amounted to at least PLN 1 billion. It has been established that the persons involved in the criminal practice made it their permanent source of income.
In recent days, nearly 200 officers of the CBA and KAS have conducted operations in the Mazowieckie, Śląskie, Łódzkie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie and Małopolskie Voivodships, during which 34 persons have been detained. During the searches in the places of residence and offices, numerous documents and electronic equipment were secured, which may constitute evidence in this case.
The detainees include persons holding managerial positions in the organised crime group, the final recipients of the fraudulent VAT invoices and the so-called shells, i.e. persons in whose names economic entities were set up and on whose behalf fictitious invoices were issued in the course of the scheme.
In the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw, charges were pressed against the detainees of participation in criminal activities of an organised crime group, the so-called VAT crimes, and penal fiscal offences.
The proceedings are under development and the investigators are planning further operations in the case.
Public Relations Division of the CBA
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Fot. CBA
