The Secretariat of Finance and Planning of the State of São Paulo (Sefaz-SP) launched, this Wednesday (10), together with the Citizenship Protection Police Department and the Judiciary Police Departments of São Paulo Interior (Deinters), Operation Exaustão, against tax fraud in the auto parts sector.
The criminal organization may have caused losses of up to R$70 million to public coffers in the last five years.
According to the investigation, the gang practiced tax fraud in the segment, involving companies that manufacture and distribute vehicle exhaust system components..
Members manipulated the declared values, reducing the value of the tax burden that should affect the production chain. This, according to the agency, generated an undue competitive advantage, in addition to causing losses to the treasury, since the products sold are subject to the tax substitution regime, in which the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) is collected by an establishment different from where the triggering event occurs.
The secretariat suspects that the companies involved acted under the same command, that is, the group simulated autonomy between the companies but, in practice, they acted in a coordinated way to reduce the amount of ICMS due. In addition to tax fraud, the criminal organization is being investigated for money laundering and hiding assets.
Pesticides
Another police operation, called Pesticide, was carried out this Tuesday, in the state of São Paulo. Companies specializing in counterfeiting, adulteration and illegal marketing of pesticides were contained. The action was carried out by the Public Ministry of São Paulo, with the participation of the Military Police of the State of São Paulo and the Military Police of Minas Gerais.
In total, 25 temporary arrest warrants and 90 search and seizure warrants were issued, resulting in 22 arrests.. The São Paulo Public Security Secretariat reported that five clandestine laboratories dedicated to the adulteration, packaging and counterfeiting of pesticides were dismantled. One of them operated on the border between Franca, in the interior of São Paulo, and the city of Claraval, in Minas Gerais.
According to the Public Ministry, investigations revealed the existence of gangs with regional operations and interstate branches, made up of several specialized groups.. The counterfeiting nucleus and the graphics nucleus were part of the group, as well as financial operators in charge of moving and concealing the amounts obtained from illicit activity.
According to the agency, counterfeiting pesticides, in addition to being a crime, also puts public health, the environment and the economy at risk, causing direct damage to agribusiness, tax collection and the competitiveness of regular producers..
