The group imported passenger cars from Germany and introduced them onto the Polish market without paying VAT, while also understating the excise tax due, causing total losses to the State Treasury exceeding one million zlotys.
The perpetrators were residents of Jelenia Góra and the surrounding area, aged between 26 and 46.
The investigation established that, on the orders of the group’s founder and leader, Łukasz J., the other defendants purchased passenger cars in Germany via the Internet. During the transactions, they declared to their contractors that VAT would be paid in Poland.
After transporting the vehicles to Poland, they failed to disclose the taxable subject matter to the competent tax authority in order to avoid paying VAT. Acting as the owners of several companies, the suspects created documentation purporting to show that the vehicles had been purchased by individuals and entities that had not actually bought them, and then sold them to other individuals and entities. Ultimately, the vehicles were sold to third parties who were not involved in the crime.
In this way, during 2015 and 2016, transactions involving several dozen high-end vehicles were carried out, resulting in a VAT shortfall of no less than PLN 822,538.86 and an excise-tax shortfall of no less than PLN 230,287.00, for a total of PLN 1,052,825.86. The defendants were charged with a total of 73 offenses, including founding, leading and participating in a criminal group, fiscal offenses and offenses against the credibility of documents.
The group’s leader, Łukasz J., was detained during the investigation and temporarily remanded in custody at the request of the Jelenia Góra District Prosecutor’s Office. The other suspects were subjected to non-custodial preventive measures, including police supervision, a ban on leaving the country, a property bond and a ban on conducting similar business activities. Łukasz J. only partially admitted to the acts of which he was accused; the other defendants admitted to the offenses charged by the Prosecutor’s Office and provided explanations in the case.
All the perpetrators had previously been convicted by the courts of various offenses. The offenses charged against Łukasz J., including founding and leading a criminal group, carry a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The other perpetrators face up to 5 years in prison for participating in a criminal group and other offenses.