Twenty defendants accused of fictitious billing scheme

The Public Prosecutor's Office has charged 20 individuals involved in a fraudulent invoicing scheme that resulted in tax fraud and evasion of tax credits, amounting to over eight million euros. The accused, primarily engaged in the wood trade in the Greater Porto area from 2017 to 2022, manipulated declared values to evade VAT and corporate tax payments. The scheme involved fictitious invoicing for non-existent transactions or inflated values. Among the accused, 13 are companies, with a focus on a father-son duo and their associated firms. The prosecution seeks to recover the misappropriated tax amounts and has requested civil compensation for the taxes wrongfully taken.