TIRANA, Jan. 25 – Prosecutors have arrested six business owners this week, and declared five others as wanted, over a VAT fraud suspected by the Tax Investigation Unit to amount to $9 million.
The investigation, which has been ongoing for several months, includes 61 companies that are suspected to have participated in the VAT fraud scheme.
Authorities said they have ensured “facts and material evidence of the fictitious registration of the trade subjects.”
On paper, these companies’ trade activities expand on several fields, starting from import and export, to clothing trade, immobiles and even energy plants assemblage.
In reality, however, the companies were created with the aim of withdrawing VAT tax blocks, issuing VAT receipts that were in fact fictitious sales for third parties and gaining refunds.
According to authorities, these subjects, in cooperation with each-other, have committed at least four penal acts, including “VAT Fraud Scheme” , “Income Concealment” , “Failure to Pay Taxes and Duties” and “Falsification of Stamps and Forms” .
