Massive Tax Case could be tax fraud record

This could be the biggest biggest tax fraud in history, not just in European corporate history but worldwide. Former business managers and corporate executives of Sparkle and Fastweb – broadband operators – form part of a group of thirty six defendants for what is likely to be the biggest tax fraud in global history. The court date is November (2nd) 2010.

The alleged fraud involves falsification of a business (a paper company) and the fraudulent  invoices totalling in excess of  (equivalent of) 2 billion Euros, generated in an attempt to evade corporation tax.  Incredibly the owners believed that a fraud of this scale would go unnoticed, which is pretty dumb with today’s audit technology and forensic accounting.

The business’ founder has been charged with tax fraud and money laundering in a personal capacity. No surprises there I suppose, and links to Mafia or other criminal organisations if found would probably produce no surprises either.

Italian Police has successfully regained from Sparkle 300 million euro’s and from Fastweb 38 million euro’s. If the court action proves successful and the the defendants are proved guilty, then the punishment is likely to be a long jail sentence in an Italian prison plus the usual disbarring from directorships of businesses. In addition there is likely to be heavy financial fines.

Crime never pays.  As Earl Nightingale said, "People don’t make money they earn it. The only people who make money work in the (Royal) Mint. The rest of us earn money, by providing services that people are willing to pay for."