Operation "Jabardillo"

A group of consultancies managed by the same family group facilitated the issuance of false invoices through dozens of shell companies and front men

• The amount defrauded would exceed ten million euros in a sector considered strategic in the economy of the area
• Five people arrested after carrying out searches in municipalities in the province that have allowed obtaining numerous documents in paper format, as well as electronic devices and data storage devices

November 15, 2022.- The Tax Agency has carried out an operation against VAT fraud in the greenhouse construction sector in the province of Almería, in which five have been arrested people and after which a defrauded amount of more than ten million euros has emerged.

The actions, carried out by the Inspection Area, the computer audit units and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, have been developed through a prior investigation phase and five entries and searches in different addresses: two in the capital of Almería, one in Vícar, one in Roquetas de Mar, and another in El Ejido. All searches have been carried out under the coordination of the Court of Instruction No. 2 of Almería.

The investigation phase focused on a group of consultancies, managed by the same family group, which would promote a fraud consisting of the use of a large number of individuals as front men to create a network of companies that irregularly invoiced, over a short period of time, very high amounts for alleged greenhouse construction work.

The main recipient of the invoicing was a commercial company in this sector, which used fraud to obtain abnormally low prices in the market, or which irregularly invoiced owners of agricultural holdings who, in this way, managed to reduce the amount of their VAT tax obligations.

The searches involved a large amount of paper documents, mobile devices and data storage devices, as well as a banknote-counting machine. Following the raids, five people were arrested: two of Romanian nationality, one of Russian nationality and two of Spanish nationality.

40 instrumental companies analyzed

To date, around 40 shell companies have been analysed, although this number may increase. The companies had a single partner and manager, were recently created, had no history in the market, no assets, and had an absolute lack of real supplies. Through these companies, an alleged total VAT fraud of more than ten million euros could have been caused since 2018. According to the investigation carried out through numerous bank accounts owned by these companies, the organisation is believed to have managed to obtain cash amounts close to 15 million euros in these years.

The Customs Surveillance Unit of the Tax Agency of Almería will continue its investigations in order to determine the identity of the rest of the people who may have participated in the criminal activity, not ruling out new arrests in the near future.

This investigation and the device carried out completes the set of checks that the Tax Agency has been carrying out for more than a year to regularize the tax situation of the owners of the agricultural holdings that could have ultimately benefited from this fraud scheme in VAT.