Following a raid on Sunday, the organised crime unit of the police have closed in on a VAT tax fraud ring, charging 17 people, including the former head of a local tax office somewhere in south Slovakia.
At a press conference yesterday, interior minister Daniel Lipsic informed how the organised group had been claiming VAT deductions for goods that were being traded among different companies and which maybe didn’t even exist. He said the total VAT scam concerned around EUR 26 million.
Lipsic explained that the group had already soaked up about EUR 9 million thanks to false VAT returns, but that the police had stepped in on time to save around EUR 17 million more.
From the 17 accused, the three people pinpointed as the ringleaders of the group have been kept in detention just now. Minister Lipsic took the opportunity to reiterate that his department was going after the biggest crime groups and would not stop on lower rungs of the ladder, as “nobody is above the law”.
Nice to know that all our hard-earned taxes are in safe hands and being used wisely.
What happened to innocent until proven guilty ? Should the Minister be announcing this type of thing ? Surely this is a police matter and for the courts , not a Pan Dipshite personal success story ?