PLZEŇSKÝ KRAJ – Over the past few days, more than a year of cooperation between police officers of the Economic Crime Department and members of the General Directorate of Customs, Pilsen Investigation Department culminated. Five persons suspected of committing the particularly serious crime of tax evasion, fee evasion and similar mandatory payments were arrested during the implementation. The two main suspects were detained by the intervention unit in the Pilsen region,
“The criminal activity consisted in the fact that the suspects supplied labor, mainly from Eastern Europe, to various manufacturing companies. They then collected payments including value added tax for their work. In order to get rid of the obligation to pay tax, they created a chain of special-purpose companies, in whose statutory bodies they installed persons in the position of so-called white horses. They then transferred the tax liability to these companies through fictitious tax documents, where the tax became irrecoverable. They then kept the collected tax for their own use, thereby causing damage to the Czech Republic of more than twenty-five million crowns,” said police spokeswoman Dagmar Brožová.
As part of the implementation, the police carried out eleven house searches and searches of other premises, in which more than seventy police officers and customs officers participated. During these actions, a large amount of evidentiary material was secured, such as special purpose company stamps, fictitious tax documents, computer technology and other things important for criminal proceedings.
One tax evader is in custody
The High Commissioner has opened criminal proceedings against three suspects aged 53, 50 and 45, whom he accused of committing the particularly serious crime of evasion of tax, duty and similar compulsory payment. The two accused were released after completing the procedural steps. The third accused was taken into custody by the court on the basis of the prosecutor’s proposal, because there was a reasonable fear that he could influence witnesses and co-accused who had not yet been heard, or otherwise frustrate the criminal prosecution. The accused face a prison sentence of up to ten years.
As part of the criminal proceedings, a search was also made for proceeds from criminal activity, but they could not be directly identified. However, it was found that the accused owns real estate worth at least twenty-two million crowns. Due to this fact, these properties were secured as a replacement value. The secured real estate could then be used to at least partially compensate for the damage caused.
