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The financiers of the Provincial Command of Milan are implementing an emergency preventive seizure decree issued by the Public Prosecutor of Milan, against Esselunga for the total amount of 47,765,684.45 euros.
As explained in a note from the public prosecutor’s office, the investigations, carried out by the Economic-Financial Police Unit of Milan with the collaboration of the Revenue Agency’s Sector Against Illicit Actions, concern the phenomenon of the illicit supply of labour.
“Complex Tax Fraud”
According to the investigations carried out, “a complex tax fraud was carried out characterized by the use, by the final beneficiary of the illegal mechanism (Esselunga, ed), of invoices for legally non-existent operations and by the signing of fictitious procurement contracts for the administration of labour, in violation of sector regulations, which led to the issue and consequent use of non-existent invoices for a total amount of over 221 million euros, plus VAT exceeding 47 million euros».
“Filter” company
In particular, «reconstructing the “labor supply chain”, it was found that the employment relationships with the client company were in some cases “shielded” by “filter” companies which in turn made use of various cooperative companies (companies “reservoir”), while in others they were held directly with the latter who systematically omitted the payment of VAT and, in most cases, social security and welfare charges».
The searches
In addition, various searches were carried out against the natural and legal persons involved in the provinces of Milan, Novara and Bergamo and the guarantee information is being notified, as well as for personal responsibilities regarding the crimes of issuing and using invoices for non-existent operations, also in terms of administrative liability of entities in relation to criminal offenses committed by company managers.