Suspects nailed in 17 billion yuan VAT fraud case
Thirteen suspects have been caught in a value added tax (VAT) fraud case in which they allegedly illegally issued about 17 billion yuan (US$2.5 billion) in VAT invoices, Shanghai police said on Monday.
While the auditing process is still underway, it’s estimated that the gang caused tax income losses to the government in the billions of yuan.
From July last year to the end of August, the suspects allegedly issued VAT invoices to other companies through about 260 companies under their control.
Those companies were either idle or failing ones purchased on the internet or registered by the suspects with false identities, police said.
Some of the documents related to the case seized from the suspects during a police raid
Some blank VAT invoices the suspects illegally claimed from tax authorities that had not yet been issued when they were nailed
Police in Baoshan District started their investigation in June after receiving a report from district tax authorities.
The tax authorities said their big data analysis led to the finding of suspicious VAT invoice issuing activities in which a huge amount of high-value invoices were issued from the same companies to others within a short period of time.
The companies which issued the invoices went out of touch after that, making it hard for tax authorities to investigate them, police said.
The suspects were caught in Baoshan and Jiading districts and the Pudong New Area at the end of August.
Eight of them have been arrested, and five others have been put on bail, police said.
