A woman who declared herself homeless on her tax return was discovered living in a 280 square meter villa with a swimming pool in the northern suburbs of Athens, Greece.
She is one of three people arrested as part of an investigation into a vast tax fraud network, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) told the media Ekathimerini.
This scheme would consist of creating fictitious companies, issuing fictitious invoices and using “ghost operators” in order to evade the tax authorities through fraudulent transactions.
Cases identified to date include individual companies carrying out false transactions worth between 2.5 million ($4 million CAD) and 28 million euros ($45 million) each, involving at least six companies identified to date, which are part of a larger network still under investigation.
The latter revealed that the same people, of foreign nationality, appeared several times within different companies, as directors or partners.
When one company ceased operations or changed ownership, another was quickly created with the same or related individuals, allowing the alleged fraud to continue.
These companies shared premises, telephone numbers and legal structures, and were mainly used to issue and receive fictitious invoices of high amounts, investigators said. Many of them were engaged in the wholesale trade of clothing, footwear and related products.
This network allegedly operated several businesses, including individual businesses whose turnover reached 28 million euros ($44 million CAD), an online store that was the subject of allegedly fictitious transactions amounting to 15 million euros ($24 million CAD), as well as an import company.
Authorities have initiated procedures to freeze assets and bank accounts linked to the suspects, while more than 32,000 counterfeit products have already been seized. The investigation continues.
