Drugs, the Guardia di Finanza seizes 6 tons of hashish on a sailing ship in the Strait of Sicily
Waste trafficking and tax fraud of 300 million, searches and arrests in Pordenone
Share
June 21, 2021 In 2020, the Finance Police discovered
3,546 total tax evaders
, business or self-employed activities completely unknown to the financial administration (many of them operating through electronic commerce platforms) and
19,209 illegal or irregular workers
.
These are some of the figures from the operating budget released on the occasion of the 247th anniversary of the foundation of the Corps.
The value of the assets seized for crimes relating to direct taxes and VAT is
800 million euros
, while the seizure proposals still under consideration by the judicial authorities amount to 4.4 billion euros. 9,833 investigations by the judicial police were carried out, which led to the denunciation of 10,264 people, of whom 308 were arrested, for having committed
7,303 tax crimes
.
In one year, the yellow flames carried out a total of 800,000 inspections - an average of 2,190 per day - and 47,560 investigations to combat the infiltration of economic and organized crime into the economic and social fabric: "an all-out commitment to protect families and businesses in difficulty and in support of the country's relaunch and development prospects ".
Contracts: irregularities for 5 billion
In the procurement sector, last year the value of the contractual procedures that were found to be irregular following targeted controls based on risk analysis amounted to over 5 billion euros: of the latter, around 632 million euros are contracts related to expenditure sanitary. 3,525 people were reported for crimes relating to contracts, corruption and other crimes against the public administration, of which 405 were arrested. The collaboration with Anac, on which it delegates, the yellow flames have carried out checks on public contracts and investigations in the anti-corruption and transparency sector is of "strategic importance". Overall, seizure orders were carried out for an amount of almost € 284 million.
Public expenditure: tax damage of 6 billion
During 2020, the Guardia di Finanza involved in combating offenses in the field of public spending discovered fraud to the detriment of the national and EU budget for over 273 million euros, while those in the social security spending sector amounted to approximately 211 million, welfare and health care, with 9,169 people reported.
With regard to the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy, undue perceptions and / or requests for contributions amounting to over 40 million euros were discovered at national level. With regard to the resources unduly requested or obtained in relation to the Structural Funds or those managed centrally by the European Commission (so-called "direct expenditure"), fraud for over € 54 million has been detected.
"These are activities - underline the yellow flames - which almost always have an impact on the tax side, in the context of which damages of over 6 billion euros were reported to the accounting magistracy, against 4,328 subjects, as well as seizures for over 11 million euros in terms of administrative liability ".
Citizenship income: 50 million unduly received
Last year the controls of the Guardia di Finanza aimed at unmasking the "crafty" of citizenship income, also thanks to the contribution of INPS, made it possible to intercept over 50 million euros unduly received and about 13 million euros of contributions requested and not yet collected: 5,868 people reported for the offenses envisaged by sector regulations. These include owners of villas and luxury cars, total tax evaders, people engaged in illicit trafficking and members of criminal associations of the mafia type, already definitively condemned.
Social security and welfare expenditure
With regard to social security and welfare expenditure, a total of 23,282 checks were carried out, which made it possible to ascertain the undue payment and / or request for services not due for approximately 93 million euro. With regard to social security expenditure alone (social allowances, war pensions, civil invalidity and others), fraud for over € 28 million was ascertained.
Health expenditure
Within the operational plan aimed at safeguarding the regularity of health expenditure, the departments completed 311 interventions, reporting 225 people to the prosecutors, 23 of whom were arrested. The frauds discovered have reached the amount of almost 117 million euros, with seizures, against those responsible, of valuables and availability for almost 12 million euros. In relation to health expenditure, the data referring to the amount of ascertained tax damages (258.5 million euros) is significant, "testifying to how the sector is affected by conduct subject to assessments by both the criminal judicial authorities and the accounting authorities" .
Tax: 921 cases of international evasion
There are 921 cases of international tax evasion discovered last year by the Guardia di Finanza: cases mostly attributable to "hidden permanent establishments, manipulation of transfer prices, the fictitious location abroad of the tax residence of individuals and legal entities. and the unlawful holding of capital across borders ".
There are 1,675 interventions carried out in relation to excise duties, also to protect the fuel market: a total of 4 thousand tons of energy products were seized and 90 thousand tons consumed in fraud were ascertained. 40 thousand interventions were carried out in order to combat customs offenses. rebuilding the distribution chain of goods illegally introduced on the national territory, with particular attention to personal protective equipment and other goods used to deal with the pandemic.
Recycling for 1.9 billion euros
With regard to the protection of the capital market, in 2020 the Finance Police seized assets worth over 525 million euros following 962 interventions in the field of money laundering and self-laundering. The people reported are 2,300, of which 278 arrested. The ascertained money laundering value is around € 1.9 billion. On the other hand, seizures made against persons held responsible for the crime of usury amount to € 27.7 million.
The Special Currency Police Unit analyzed 137,212 reports of suspicious transactions, of which 76,275 subjected to more in-depth investigations, 1,162 of which specifically related to the phenomenon of terrorist financing.
11,469 checks were carried out at land and sea borders aimed at verifying compliance with the rules on the cross-border circulation of currency by subjects entering and / or leaving the national territory, with the discovery of illegal movements for over 517 million and the ascertainment of 3,339 violations.
In the field of bankruptcy crimes, assets worth over 293 million euros were seized, out of a total of assets that were distracted of around 4.3 billion euros. In the operational sector dedicated to the safety of the circulation of the euro, 116 people were reported, 19 of whom under arrest, with the execution of seizures of counterfeit currency, securities, certificates and stamps for a total value of over 8 million EUR.
Mafia, seizures and confiscations for 1.5 billion
Last year, in application of the anti-mafia legislation, 8,822 people were subjected to patrimonial checks while the seizure and confiscation orders carried out reached a total balance of about 1.5 billion EUR.
The value of movable and immovable property, companies, company shares and financial resources proposed for seizure amounts to approximately € 2.2 billion. These measures include the execution of preventive seizures, pursuant to the Anti-Mafia Code, for approximately 600 million euros and definitive confiscations of assets for over 650 million. 64,732 investigations were also carried out following requests received from the prefects, almost all (64,564) referring to the functional checks for the release of anti-mafia documentation.
Counterfeiting: 157 million products seized
In terms of the fight against counterfeiting, in 2020 the Guardia di Finanza carried out over 5,100 interventions, seizing about 156 million counterfeit industrial products, with false indication of made in Italy and unsafe as well as large quantities of food products bearing falsified industrial brands or indications not truthful. These are some of the figures from the Corps' annual operating budget. 2,268 people were reported, of which 17 were subjected to precautionary measures; 665 complaints made to aware buyers of counterfeit products; over 700 websites blocked or seized because they were used to market counterfeit goods online.
Gambling, drugs and smuggling
The controls and investigations against
illegal gambling
last year
and irregular have allowed the Guardia di Finanza to impose penalties of 8.3 million, to report 311 people, to discover 275 clandestine agencies and to ascertain a tax base evaded for the purposes of the single tax for about 500 million euros. During 2020, the GDF seized a total of almost 64 tons of
narcotic substances
, arresting 1,450 drug traffickers and seizing 128 vehicles used for trafficking.
Smuggling
of foreign manufactured tobacco
continues to grow
: in 2020, the GDF seized 346 tons of illegal cigarettes, with 1,700 people reported and 230 arrested.
Pandemic, 71.7 million masks and dpi seized
In the year of the pandemic, the financiers denounced 1,347 people for the crimes of commercial fraud, sale of products with false signs, fraud, forgery and receiving stolen goods, found administrative penalties in 310 cases and seized approximately 71.7 million masks and devices for individual protection, about one million packs and 160,000 liters of sanitizers (sold as disinfectants); 238 people reported for the crime of speculative maneuvers on goods and over 3.2 million assets seized, some of which are marketed to the public with markups of up to 6,000% of the purchase price.
The Guardia di Finanza, together with the other police forces, ensured the implementation of the measures to contain the pandemic by carrying out approximately one million and 340 thousand checks, which made it possible to administratively sanction about 26,800 people and to report about another 6 thousand. The air component of the Corps also provided support to the Civil Protection Department by carrying out 40 flight missions that allowed the transport of over 35 tons of medical material and 535 doctors to the areas most affected by the infection.