Another major Police operation into tax fraud and money laundering has been confirmed after officers raided company premises and private addresses in the north of Portugal and arrested five business people.
The damage this time is €2.7 million fraudulently obtained from the Portugal 2020 Community Support grant giving programme and an additional €1.9 million received in VAT credits given by the State to companies involved in the scam.
In the course of 35 searches in Operation Dennis, four men and one woman, aged from 38 to 73, were arrested.
The Judicial Police stated that it has dismantled a criminal association operating from Vila Nova de Famalicão, Santo Tirso, Guimarães, Maia, Braga and Vila do Conde. The members created ghost companies and issued fake invoices in a criminal scheme involving European Community funds.
The gang used their dodgy companies to apply for around €35 million in support grants and managed to receive €2.7 million before they were stopped.
This complex scheme used fictitious invoices to make it look like the companies were trading and investing. The companies looked legitimate when they filled in applications for Portugal 2020 funds for ‘industrial modernisation.’
In the course of the police operation, several cars, computer equipment and mobile phones were seized, as well as accounting and tax documentation.
The detainees will appear in the Central Criminal Court in Lisbon for their first hearing to see if they can wait at home, or in detention, for their trial date.
