The District Attorney for the National District carried out several raids on businesses suspect to be in violation of the Tax Code and tax evasion for over RD$4 billion. The interventions were carried out against the Tremols Group and its affiliated companies and shareholders.
Some 18 prosecutors supported by investigators and technical personnel from the Tax Agency (DGII) as well as member of the National Police Criminal Intelligence Department (DICRIM) took part in the operation.
Rosalba Ramos, the District Attorney for the National District, told reporters that the operation resulted in the arrest of several persons who had been cheating the DGII for several years and would be indicted within hours of their arrest.
Apparently, the scheme involved creating fictitious companies that were used to make huge purchases that would then be deducted from their legitimate tax bill.
When investigators found out that the “companies” supposedly supplying these million peso orders were practically non-existent, they knew there was a big problem. Some of the companies that did exist, and were legitimate enterprises, said that they had no knowledge that the Tremols Group was using their Tax Code Numbers for faking invoices for huge sums of money.
Another part of the scam was related to companies within the Tremols Group that ran distilleries (Licores Royal and Bodegas de Iberia) and avoided payment of the Selective Consumer Tax that is supposed to be paid the moment the product is manufactured.
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El Caribe
28 January 2019
