62 home searches in Bucharest and in seven counties for tax evasion of 20mln euros in car trade

Police officers from the Economic Crime Investigation Directorate of the Romanian Police General Inspectorate (IGPR) and prosecutors of the Bucharest Court of Appeal carry out, on Wednesday, 62 home searches in Bucharest and in the counties of Ilfov, Bacau, Brasov, Calarasi, Giurgiu, Ialomita and Vaslui, in two criminal cases involving a tax evasion estimated at 20 million euros in the trade in used cars brought from Europe. "The investigations concern five criminal groups specialized in tax evasion crimes, groups that, through their members, would directly or through intermediaries control several companies that carry out activities in the field of intra-community trade in used vehicles," the IGPR said in a release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday. Some 31 arrest warrants are to be enforced. According to the investigators, through some commercial companies, cars were purchased from partners in the European Union, mainly from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, which were subsequently sold in Romania, without registering the revenues in the accounting records and without declaring the operations performed, thus evading the payment of fiscal obligations due to the consolidated state budget. "The criminal activity of the suspects was allegedly committed through several companies and structured on different time intervals, in the period 2016-2019," the quoted source shows. Through the criminal activity, a damage to the consolidated state budget of over 97,000,000 lei (approximately 20 million euros) was caused. The teams participating in the operation are made up of judicial police officers and agents from IGPR, the Bucharest General Police Directorate and the Ilfov, Bacau, Brasov, Calarasi, Giurgiu, and Ialomita County Police Inspectorates. Specialists of the National Institute of Forensics and fighters from the Service for Interventions and Special Actions also participate in the activities. In order to carry out all the established procedural measures, the activities benefit from the support of the National Agency for the Administration of Seized Goods. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Alexandru Florea, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Adina Panaitescu)