Operation 'Copernicus'

• The organization was run from Alicante, extending its radius of action across eight autonomous communities, and had a whole network of companies and collaborators, including shell companies and front men, who carried out everything from logistics and commercial work to issuing invoices and collecting payments from end customers.
• The product distributed to gas stations bypassed the necessary quality controls and, by changing its composition, the scheme managed to avoid paying the Hydrocarbon Tax, in addition to not paying the VAT passed on to its clients to the Public Treasury.
• 43 arrests made, with 90 companies and 100 individuals from various countries investigated, as well as 19 searches in offices and private homes 
• Property, high-end vehicles and luxury items, more than a hundred bank accounts and cash have been seized from an organisation that may have defrauded nearly 11 million euros

May 13, 2020 .- The Tax Agency has completed an extensive investigation carried out over more than a year that has allowed it to dismantle a complex fraud organization in the hydrocarbon sector that acquired automotive diesel in various countries of the European Union with slightly modified composition to avoid community tax controls. This product was finally sold in various autonomous communities to 'low cost' or 'white label' service stations, with a double tax benefit: the non-payment of the Hydrocarbon Tax thanks to the adulteration of the product, and also the VAT, not paying the tax passed on to its clients. All of this was based on a business structure that included a large number of shell companies and front men.

The National Customs Inspection and Investigation Office of the Tax Agency (ONII) began the operation, called 'Copernicus', in 2018, under the direction of the Investigating Court number 2 of Orihuela (Alicante), although in view of the facts revealed during the investigation, the case was transferred to the National Court, which is currently continuing the investigation, with the participation of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Opaque and modified diesel fuel

The organisation was particularly established in the province of Alicante, where its headquarters were located, although its action extended to eight autonomous communities: Valencian Community, Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Andalusia, Murcia, Castilla La Mancha and Navarre.

To develop its organized fraud activity in the hydrocarbon sector, it acquired products in other EU member states with characteristics practically identical to automotive diesel, but specially designed to be able to circulate to Spain outside of tax control procedures. community, so that they were received in our country in an opaque way.

Once the product was in Spain, the network distributed the diesel to low-cost service stations without having paid the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons. Tax avoidance allowed them to acquire a very advantageous position in the market by being able to offer very competitive prices. At the same time, the organization took over the VAT charged and collected from clients, instead of paying it to the Public Treasury.

To achieve this, the organization had a network of companies and collaborators that met the different needs of the business: companies that invoice the product and receive the money in other Member States, shell companies for issuing invoices and collecting payment from end customers, national and international transport companies, unloading facilities, supply of additives and flavourings, as well as a whole network of salespeople, also counting on several front men to conceal the true persons responsible for the activity.

Circumvention of quality controls and threats

To achieve the organization's goals, the product was circulated under the protection of circulation documents with false recipients, or with incomplete data to avoid being located. In addition, it was received at facilities outside the hydrocarbon distribution control system, from where the product was distributed to service stations.

The use of this type of installation also means that the product is not subject to the quality controls of its technical specifications, and its continued use may even cause damage to vehicles that refuel at the service stations from which the final retail distribution is made, with the consequent fraud to the consumer. In fact, the plot even used flavourings to give the product the appearance of normal quality diesel fuel.

Furthermore, the organisation did not hesitate to use coercion and threatened violent actions to achieve its objectives, even resorting to the well-known 'Hell's Angels' organisation, considered internationally to be a genuine criminal organisation, for this purpose.

Arrests and searches

The investigation extends to more than 100 natural persons from various countries (Spain, Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania and Armenia), as well as 90 Spanish legal entities and other EU member states (Estonia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Denmark, Malta and Lithuania).

Within the framework of the investigation, various searches and seizures were carried out in up to 19 offices, facilities and private homes, in which more than 150 officials from the Tax Agency participated, both from Customs Surveillance and from the Customs and Excise Inspection and from the Computer Audit Units.

43 people were arrested, 10 of them were ordered to prison, and nearly 300,000 euros in cash were seized, as well as property, more than a hundred bank accounts, high-end vehicles and luxury items.

All actions have been coordinated by the ONII, with the help of Alicante Customs Surveillance in the role of judicial police and with officials specifically designated for judicial assistance tasks.

Work is currently underway to finalise the investigation and definitively quantify the tax fraud committed, which investigators estimate to be at least around 11 million euros. As this is a judicial case with wide-ranging international ramifications, an international judicial cooperation file has been opened within the framework of Eurojust, and several European orders have been processed to investigate money movements and seizures of bank accounts abroad. 

Operation filming (to download the video, enter the following web address):

https://we.tl/t-QM1o3wrLlg