Operation Broken Wall: 90 million fraud dismantled through abuse of procedure 42
The Guardia di Finanza and Customs uncovered an illegal system that allowed goods to be placed on the Italian market without payment of VAT, thanks to false EU destinations.
A wall of fraud has crumbled under the weight of justice. With the operation 'Broken Wall', the Guardia di Finanza and the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli di Firenze, coordinated by the European Public Prosecutors' Offices of Bologna and Turin (Eppo), a criminal network that for years polluted the European market with goods that had been evading payment of border duties, was disrupted.
The balance is six precautionary measures - two custodial sentences and four house arrest orders - and seizures of more than EUR 19 million.
It amounts, in fact, to approximately 90 million euro of VAT fraud discovered by the financiers of the Economic and Financial Police Nucleus of Florence and by customs officials, at the end of a complex investigation whose epilogue is represented by the measures issued by the Gip of the Court of Florence against a criminal gang of Chinese origin.
The fraudulent mechanism involved the introduction into Italy of large quantities of Chinese goods, formally destined for other EU countries.
The focus was on the abuse of the called 'procedure 42', which allows goods to be released for free circulation in one Member State without immediate payment of VAT, provided that the goods are destined for another EU country, where the tax must be paid upon release for consumption.
