In a case of suspected fraud with bogus bills totaling more than 45 million euros, the investigative authorities in Darmstadt in southern Hesse have launched a public manhunt for a 41-year-old.
The man is said to have sent more than 4,500 bogus bills to customers as the head of a fraud gang in the years 2015 to 2019, as the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden announced.
The suspect did not report the sales tax shown in the invoices to the tax office.
The bogus bills are said to have been paid by the billing addressees - but then they would have received the invoice amount back from the alleged gang of fraudsters.
According to a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office, the companies were then able to deduct the invoice amounts from tax and also received cash that could be used to finance undeclared work.
In December 2020, three gang members were sentenced to long prison terms by the Darmstadt Regional Court.
According to the investigators, the gang set up so-called service companies for their fraud.
The 41-year-old is said to have had the power of disposal over the transactions and accounts of these companies.
Icon: The mirror
mjm / AFP