Customs carried out more than 100 searches in the construction industry. It was about fictitious invoices with which millions of euros were allegedly diverted for black money.
In a major nationwide raid on the construction industry, 800 customs officers carried out more than 100 searches. Seven people were arrested, the lead public prosecutor’s office in Hanover said. They are accused of not having paid several million euros in social security contributions. They are also said to have issued fictitious invoices.
Evidence secured in nine federal states
The focus of the raid was on the greater Hamburg and Düsseldorf/Duisburg areas, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office. A total of nine federal states were affected by the searches: Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein.
In addition to securing evidence, the focus of the raid was also on enforcing asset seizures totaling over five million euros, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Investigations against three service companies
The background is three investigations against a total of 25 accused on behalf of the Hanover public prosecutor’s office. This involves so-called “cover invoices” in which service companies bill for services that were never provided. These fictitious invoices are then intended to cover another payment “so that you can pay black,” said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office.
Three such service companies are being investigated. “In total, we are aware of cash flows amounting to millions through the service companies since September 2021,” said the spokesman for the Hanover public prosecutor’s office. According to previous evaluations, there is a suspicion that a large number of companies have purchased cover invoices from the service companies.