(Luxembourg, 13 March 2026) – At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Naples and Venice (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) in Naples and Caserta executed a seizure order targeting assets worth more than €32 million in an investigation into a large-scale VAT carousel fraud in the IT sector.
The preventive seizure order, issued by the Judge for Preliminary Investigations at the Court of Naples, concerns five companies suspected of involvement in a complex international tax fraud scheme.
The suspected fraud scheme allegedly relied on numerous Italian and foreign shell companies, lacking any real business structure. These companies were allegedly used to simulate commercial transactions and generate undue tax advantages. Moreover, it is believed that companies established in several EU Member States, including the Netherlands, Germany, Romania and Hungary, were used to initiate and sustain fictitious transactions, in order to complicate the reconstruction of financial flows.
Overall, invoices for non-existent transactions exceeding €500 million were identified. These were allegedly used to create fictitious VAT credits and artificially reduce the tax burden of companies benefiting from the fraudulent scheme.
There is reason to believe that in many cases the goods involved were never physically moved, remaining in the same logistics platforms while multiple fictitious transactions were recorded between the companies involved.
Based on the evidence gathered, the court ordered the preventive seizure of shareholdings in five companies allegedly involved in the scheme, four business complexes and an industrial warehouse located in Somma Vesuviana (Naples), up to a total value exceeding €32 million.
The measure follows developments in another investigation we previously reported on, and which targets a criminal network specialised in intra-EU VAT carousel fraud in the trade of electronic products and printer consumables. The alleged network involves a total of 64 suspects operating mainly in the province of Naples.
All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) is the independent public prosecution office of the European Union. It is responsible for investigating, prosecuting and bringing to judgment crimes against the financial interests of the EU.