Two companies based in the Republic of San Marino have surfaced in an international network identified by Italy’s Customs and Monopolies Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli) in Rimini, as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud in the alcohol and beer trade.
The inquiry led to a preventive seizure of assets worth more than €7 million, ordered by the judicial authority and carried out with the assistance of the Rimini unit of the Economic and Financial Police Corps of the Guardia di Finanza.
At the heart of the investigation is a company based in Rimini which, according to investigators, played a role in a scheme to evade VAT and improperly claim excise duty refunds.
The network reconstructed by authorities includes, besides the company itself and its parent holding, 12 Italian firms, nine companies based in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Romania, and two San Marino-based companies.
The link to San Marino concerns sales that the Rimini-based company allegedly made, at least on paper, to San Marino companies, as well as to shell companies within the European Union. According to the investigation, invoices for non-existent transactions and falsified transport documents were allegedly used to simulate foreign sales, generating VAT credits with no actual basis.
Further up the supply chain, the products are said to have been purchased on particularly favourable terms through shell companies and operators who failed to meet their tax obligations. After passing through several Italian and European firms, the goods are believed to have reached the Rimini company at below-market prices.
Officials also grew suspicious after examining the company’s financial performance: sales below purchase cost, minimal margins and persistent losses. These factors were deemed inconsistent with normal commercial operations and helped investigators outline the company’s possible role as an intermediary in the fraud.
The VAT credits generated in this way are alleged to have been systematically transferred to the parent holding company, which would then have used them in its own tax filings. The same holding is said to have supported the Rimini company’s operations through substantial cash transfers within the group.
A second strand of the investigation concerns excise duty refunds. The company’s legal representative is alleged to have submitted refund claims for products declared as sold abroad, using the same disputed invoices and false declarations. According to investigators, the goods listed in the documents were of illicit origin and had not been taxed, making the refund claims improper.
The seizure covered tax credits, funds held in bank accounts, other financial assets, and movable and immovable property traceable to the individuals under investigation.
