Karl Stagno-Navarra
The police are reported to have concluded their investigations on allegations of fraud at the VAT Department, and a number of persons are expected to be charged in court in the coming days.
Without revealing any details, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi – who was quizzed yesterday about the investigations during a press conference – said that “the police have done their work and now the case will soon be before the courts.”
The government, he said, “could never tolerate allegations such as this, and investigations were launched immediately the case became known.”
Several people at the VAT Department were reportedly arrested and subsequently suspended from duty following a swoop on the VAT Department offices in Birkirkara earlier this year.
The investigations were triggered by a tip-off forwarded to the Minister of Finance Tonio Borg who asked the Police Commissioner to investigate.
While a number of computers were seized from the VAT Department, the police were also reported to have interrogated several other persons, who allegedly served as intermediaries between businessmen and the VAT Department for the deleting of pending VAT bills.
According to senior government sources, the scale of the alleged fraud runs into millions of Euro’s to the detriment of public coffers, and it is highly probable that the exact amount of funds deviated.
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