Prague, Oct 10 (CTK) – Detectives of the Czech Kobra (Cobra) special police unit have accused 11 people and three firms trading in precious metals of tax evasion worth at least 260 million crowns, National Centre against Organised Crime (NCOZ) spokesman Jaroslav Ibehej told CTK on Tuesday.
The suspects applied excessive VAT deductions unlawfully, he added.
The prosecuted persons face up to ten years in prison if convicted. Two of them have been remanded in custody.
“According to our findings, the group of the accused expediently established and subsequently controlled a multilevel chain of at least 32 domestic companies, trading in precious metals (mixtures of gold, silver, silver granules and platinum) in the VAT regime successively,” Ibehej said.
The precious metals of unknown origin were “artificially” sold via several firms. The final firms avoided the tax duty by supplying the goods to another EU member state and then drawing excessive VAT deductions, Ibehej said.
Detectives carried out 19 searches in houses, flats and other real estate in mid-September. They gathered evidence mapping the criminal activities of the accused and seized jewels, precious stones, real estate and money in bank accounts and cash of 30 million crowns in total as proceeds of crime.
Cooperation between the NCOZ and the financial authority prevented the payment of further unauthorised VAT deductions worth at least 50 million crowns, Ibehej said.
The investigation continues. The case is supervised by the Municipal State Attorney’s Office in Prague.
