On 20 June 2023, the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) seized around €650 000 in assets from one of the suspects in investigation ‘Cheap Ink’, led by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Venice (Italy). The suspect, an entrepreneur from Bolzano, is believed to be part of a criminal organisation that sold office supplies at cheap prices by fraudulently avoiding VAT payment, with profits estimated at €58 million.
The judicial order comes in the wake of previous proceedings in investigation ‘Cheap Ink’. Earlier this year, on 26 January 2023, 18 suspects were arrested, including two entrepreneurs of Paduan origin (father and son), believed to be the promoters of the fraudulent scheme.
The investigation has taken a new turn in recent months, bringing to light the role of the entrepreneur from Bolzano, who is believed to have originally been in business with the top leaders of the criminal association. According to the evidence, he later distanced himself from the ringleaders to set up an autonomous VAT fraud scheme, benefitting a company he owned and another company of which he was the commercial director, both based in the province of Bolzano.
This new scheme, which generated profits of at least €650 000, appears to be similar to the one uncovered in the first phase of the investigation – which involved the use of shell companies to import into Italy significant quantities of stationery and consumables for printing equipment, making it impossible to recover the due VAT.
It is believed that, upon learning about the arrest of the Paduan entrepreneurs, the entrepreneur from Bolzano started to dispose of the assets in his name, simulating, among other things, the separation from his wife, in order to save the house he owned from a possible court order.
In order to recover the damages to the national and EU budgets, the Italian Financial Police (Nucleo di Polizia Economico Finanziaria Bolzano – Guardia di Finanza) have seized money, company shares, five cars and the suspect’s house.