(ANSA) - MILAN, MARCH 28 - Twenty-two protective custody orders, ten in prison and twelve under house arrest, are being executed by the military of the Guardia di Finanza of Milan, as part of an investigation coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office, on a system operating in Lombardy, continued from 2000 to the present, aimed at tax evasion, through the replacement of companies "piloted" into bankruptcy (consortia and cooperative companies) with new companies set up ad hoc and the issue and use of invoices for non-existent operations.
The mechanism used cooperative companies which, after just a few years of activity, were emptied and abandoned to insolvency.
Apparently "clean" new operators were created to hinder investigations following the discovery of the fraud.
Preventive searches and seizures are underway for almost 300 million euros constituting the profit of bankruptcy crimes and tax violations.
The investigation, conducted by prosecutors Grazia Colacicco and Pasquale Addesso, hypothesizes charges of criminal conspiracy, bankruptcy, issuing and using invoices for non-existent operations and focuses on the management of consortia active in the logistics and porterage sector.
These allegedly entrusted orders received from customers to consortium or affiliated companies, all registered in the name of "front names", on whom all the social security and tax burdens relating to the workers were encumbered.
(HANDLE).