It is alleged that the unnamed haulage firm predominantly used a subsidiary based in Romania to reduce its tax and labour costs, including national insurance contributions.
The 100 or so drivers employed by the subsidiary were all managed in Italy and did most of their driving in the same country. It was found that some of the drivers had actually been employed under Italian law, but were effectively fired and rehired in order to switch their contracts to the cheaper Romanian system.
The discovery of the fraud was made possible thanks to the collaboration of multiple law enforcement agencies across Italy and Europe.
A financial audit conducted by the Italian authorities concluded that during a five year period covering 2016-2021, the Romanian subsidiary made a profit of €50m. It was calculated that €3.5m of this is owed to Italy’s state tax authority.
The persons behind the letterbox companies will now face fraud and tax evasion charges.
The news comes just days after a Romanian driver, who was employed by a Romanian subsidiary despite working in Belgium, won his legal battle and is now due to receive substantial compensation.
Photo: Corvettec6r, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons