Friday, 11 July 2025, 13:40
The Spanish delegation of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has ordered the arrest of eight suspected members of a criminal network, including the three ringleaders, for their involvement in a 68-million-euro IVE fraud scheme related to the import of alcohol from several EU countries.
The searches were carried out in 19 locations in Barcelona, Cadiz, Coruña, Ibiza, Madrid and Valencia, focusing on business premises, the suspects’ homes, a room in a luxury hotel where one of those arrested was staying and a tax warehouse.
The Guardia Civil seized a yacht, five cars (including three high-end Porsches), 34 luxury watches and 333,085 euros in cash. More than 700,000 euros were frozen in bank accounts and a seizure order was issued for 21 properties.
The crime was the result of an intra-EU sales tax fraud – a complex criminal scheme that takes advantage of EU rules on cross-border transactions between EU states, as these are exempt from tax. There are also suspicions of money-laundering.
The fraud involves import of large quantities of alcohol from tax warehouses in several EU countries to a Spanish tax warehouse – a facility where certain excise goods can be stored without immediate payment of tax, as IVA is only due when the products leave the warehouse for commercial distribution or consumption.
Once there, fraudulent intermediaries – so-called “missing traders” – based in Spain purchase the alcohol and become liable for IVA, but they disappear before fulfilling their tax obligations. Subsequently, the alcohol is sold to a chain of fraudulent companies, using false invoices. Finally, the alcohol undergoes controlled distribution in Spain. The IVA derived from these fictitious operations is never paid.
It has been estimated that the scheme made an illicit profit of approximately 68 million euros between 2018 and 2024, causing equivalent damage to the Spanish state and the EU budget.