Crossroads in turmoil. The public prosecutor's office in Milan, in the north of Italy, announced that it had sequestered on Monday more than 64 million euros from the French mass distribution group Carrefour Italy, a subsidiary of which is suspected of tax fraud. The police "executed a preventive sequestration decree for a total amount of more than 64 million euros concerning a leading company in the mass distribution sector", indicated the Milan public prosecutor's office in a press release, evoking between others VAT fraud.
For its part, Carrefour indicated “offering maximum support and collaboration to the competent authorities” in this “tax investigation”. “More concretely, the subject of the investigation concerns the company’s logistics activities,” added the group in a press release, without further details.
“False documents” would have been issued
According to the Ansa agency, the company GS Spa, responsible for logistics and owned by Carrefour Italy, is suspected of tax fraud between 2018 and 2022 for having issued invoices for non-existent activities. According to the prosecution, which does not name it, GS Spa would have issued “false documents for a total amount greater than 362 million euros”.
Carrefour Italy achieved a turnover of around 4.4 billion euros in 2022 and has 1,500 points of sale on the peninsula through several store chains, according to its website.