The public prosecutor’s office is investigating Pregis, a leading player in the large-scale catering sector, on suspicion of tax evasion
The seizure of 13 million. Workers’ unpaid entitlements are also being contested
The Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has seized 13 million from Pregis, a leading company in the food distribution sector for hotels and restaurants, and is investigating the company’s senior management – namely the chief executive, Ivo Gentilini – and the company itself on suspicion of tax evasion.
As in other investigations relating to logistics and large-scale retail, the term ‘labour pools’ is used here too: contracts and subcontracts designed to bolster the workforce whilst ensuring considerable savings on labour costs through outsourcing and the inherent reduction in industrial and trade union relations. But these labour pools evidently do not even pay VAT or social security contributions to the INPS. This tax evasion, therefore, goes hand in hand with a failure to respect workers’ rights.
According to Public Prosecutor Paolo Storari ‘the fraudulent scheme is still in operation, resulting in very significant losses to the Exchequer and ongoing labour exploitation, all to the benefit of the organisation, which does not appear to have put in place any effective safeguards or adopted any alternative management practices aimed at reducing the unlawful effects of the scheme’. These gains are estimated at 13 million for the period 2022–2025, accruing solely to the company’s senior management (the company’s latest financial statements show a total of almost 700 million).
The investigations also reveal a complete lack of internal procedures designed to identify individuals with tax-related issues within the supply chain.
Pregis’s statement: “The company, which has been operating in the food service sector for almost seventy years, immediately provided the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office with all available information relating to some of the many transport companies used in its business. Pregis is entirely uninvolved in the tax irregularities committed by these transport companies, of which it could have no knowledge as the information in question lies entirely outside its sphere of control. Pregis has cooperated fully with the investigating authorities and has the utmost confidence in the work of the judiciary.”
