Milan: seizure of over €60 million in VAT fraud in the trade of petroleum products

Page 1 TERRITORIAL DIRECTORATE FOR OMBARDY PRESS RELEASE VAT FRAUD IN THE TRADE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS: SEIZURE OF OVER 60 MILLION EUROS Maxi operation in the Milan area by the Guardia di Finanza and the Customs and Monopolies Agency, coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office Milan, 1 July 2026 – The soldiers of the Provincial Command of the Guardia di Finanza of Milan, together with the staff of the Customs and Monopolies Agency - Lombardy 2 Office, are executing a preventive seizure decree aimed at confiscating the equivalent of over 60 million euros, issued by the G.I.P. of the Court of Milan at the request of the European Prosecutor's Office - Milan Office. The investigations made it possible to identify a complex fraud system carried out by an authorized deposit of petroleum products, located in the province of Milan, which released for consumption over 188 million liters of diesel and petrol in tax evasion. In particular, the warehouse made undue use of the "VAT on extraction" regime, which provides for the payment of the tax upon extraction of the goods from the VAT warehouse, based on an estimate of the quantities intended for subsequent marketing. The distorted use of this regime, reiterated in the period 2023 - 2025 through a systematic underestimation of the tax due, allowed the company to evade over 60 million euros in VAT, obtaining an undue economic advantage. This has allowed the sale of petroleum products at prices significantly lower than market prices, both through its own network of distributors ("white pumps") and through sales to other operators, resulting in significant distorting effects on competition. At the end of the investigative activities, the legal representative of the company and two de facto directors were reported to the European Prosecutor's Office for the crime of unfaithful declaration pursuant to art. 4 of Legislative Decree no. 74/2000. The company was also referred pursuant to Legislative Decree no. 231/2001 for the administrative responsibility of entities. The judicial authority has ordered the preventive seizure, aimed at confiscation, of movable and immovable assets and financial assets attributable to the company and the subjects under investigation, for a value corresponding to the profit from the crime, estimated at over 60 million euros. At the same time, searches of the suspects are underway.

The criminal proceedings are in the preliminary investigation phase and, by virtue of the principle of not guilty, the responsibility of the people under investigation will be ascertained only if an irrevocable sentence of conviction occurs. The joint activity of the Guardia di Finanza and the Customs and Monopolies Agency confirms the constant commitment to combating the most complex forms of tax fraud, to protect national and European economic-financial legality and to safeguard fair competition between operators, ensuring fair and transparent market conditions.