The investigation says that the organized group had been deliberately forging documents about nonexistent transactions and included them in their VAT statements, which allowed them to offer their clients household equipment and luxury automobiles for substantially reduced prices. Members of the group coordinated their criminal activities and used enterprises in their control and their data for their operations, the State Revenue Service informed.
According to information provided by the Revenue Service, starting from 2016 the group had been using data and bank accounts of more than 30 fictitious companies to create chains of fake transactions and avoid paying more than €2.8 million in VAT.
As part of a pre-trial investigation, the Financial Police conducted 26 searches at the suspects’ homes, offices and transport vehicles, seizing compelling evidence (documents, computers, telephones, code calculators) about the persons’ criminal activities.
Three persons have been officially declared suspects in the case. The organizer of the scheme has been remanded in custody.
Meanwhile the tax service confirmed that the case is not related to the ongoing dispute between it and the ss.lv classifieds website.
As reported, the State Revenue Service halted operations of ss.lv as the portal refused to inform the revenue service about automobile dealers who had failed to register with the tax authority.
The service said that the website was being used for illegal business operations by persons buying and selling automobiles who had not registered with the revenue service.
The website is however up and running at a different address, ss.com.
