Joint operation of the Tax Agency and Civil Guard

• 75 medium and high-end vehicles were blocked, as well as 44 bank accounts, and 17 properties, seven luxury watches, computers, mobile phones and abundant documentation in physical and digital format were seized.
• The valuation of the seized and seized assets covers a good part of the more than 14 million euros in which the amounts defrauded by the organization are estimated to date.
• 23 people of Spanish and Romanian nationality have been arrested, and three dealerships open to the public, three warehouses used to store vehicles and two homes have been searched.
• This is the first VAT scheme operation directed and coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office

December 29, 2022 .- The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, within the framework of a joint operation directed and coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, have dismantled an intra-community VAT fraud scheme filed in Valencia that operated in the automobile sector.

As a result of the actions, 23 people have been arrested, 75 vehicles and 44 bank accounts have been blocked, and 17 properties have been seized, among other effects that make it possible to cover a good part of the more than 14 million euros in which it is estimated up to the date the amounts defrauded by the organization.

The start of the operation, called 'Cavallino', took place last year 2021 when the National Fraud Investigation Office (ONIF) and the Regional Inspection Unit of the Tax Agency in Valencia, together with the Civil Guard, detected a organization located in Valencia that used a complex network of instrumental companies ('truchas' companies) that, managed by front men, introduced vehicles into Spain.

Previously, the organization registered these instrumental companies in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators and, through them, they virtually acquired the vehicles from their only community supplier, located in Germany.

However, these transactions were a mere artifice, given that the vehicles were actually purchased directly from Germany by a series of reseller companies that, by doing so, were defrauding a significant portion of VAT that they would have been obliged to pay.

Stops and searches

The complex investigation ended between the months of November and December of this year, when the arrest in Spain of a total of 23 people of Spanish and Romanian nationality was carried out in various locations.

The arrest of the 23 people, among whom there are 18 men and 5 women of Spanish and Romanian nationality, has taken place in various locations in the province of Valencia: Valencia capital, Torrent, Bétera, Llíria, Pobla de Vallbona, Marines and Olocau. The detainees are accused of crimes against the Public Treasury, money laundering and membership in a criminal organization.

During the exploitation phase of the operation, the Valencia Civil Guard and the Tax Agency proceeded to enter and search two homes, three dealerships open to the public and three warehouses that the organization used for the safekeeping and custody of the vehicles.

In addition to the arrests, the action has resulted in the blocking of a total of 75 medium and high-end vehicles valued at more than seven million euros – of which 18 are high-end vehicles, valued at two million euros. The accounts of 14 people and 30 companies with 1,350,000 euros have also been blocked and 17 properties with an estimated value of 3,000,000 euros have been seized, seven watches valued at more than 100,000 euros, six computers, six mobile phones and plenty documentation, both in physical and digital format.

During the investigation, there has been support and cooperation from Europol, which has acted as an interlocutor body for the exchange of information with other countries of the European Union, especially with Germany.

This is the first VAT scheme operation directed and coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office in Spain. The proceedings have been delivered to the European Prosecutor's Office in Spain and new arrests are not ruled out, once the review and analysis of the copious documentation seized has been completed.