Two consortia, a series of cooperatives in the logistics and porterage sector, unpaid charges and contributions and tax evasion obtained thanks to false invoices. It is yet another scheme, discovered by Finance Police of Milan, which in an investigation which also disputes the bankruptcy led to 22 arrest warrants, ten in prison and twelve under house arrest. A system, the one unveiled by the yellow flames, operating in Lombardy has continued since 2000, aimed at tax evasion, through the replacement of companies “driven” to bankruptcy (consortia and work cooperatives) with new ad hoc companies and the issue and use of invoices for non-existent operations.
The mechanism used cooperative companies which, after just a few years of activity, were emptied and abandoned to insolvency: a swirl of open and closed companies as already seen in other investigations. New, apparently “clean” operators were created to hinder investigations following the discovery of the fraud. Preventive searches and seizures are underway for over 292 million euros as a profit from bankruptcy crimes and tax violations. The investigations were coordinated by the prosecutors of Milan Grazia Colacicco, Pasquale Addesso and Roberto Fontana (now a member of the CSM). From the order signed by investigating magistrate Luca Milani it also appears that a large part of the illicit profits of the alleged maxi tax fraud of bankruptcies would first have been transferred to China to some Chinese accomplices through false invoices and then allegedly returned to Italy. Fundamental in the investigation by the Milan prosecutor’s office were the interceptions through the trojan system, i.e. the computer captors inserted into the phones of the suspects and which transform them into bugs.