Italian police detain tanners over tax evasion
13 October 2009According to a number of reports Italian police have arrested a number of tanners in the Arzignano region of Italy relating to VAT tax evasion. The police operation which has been underway in the region for the past six or seven months are investigating around 120 Italian tanneries in total.
According to sources between 21 and 28 tanneries have been linked directly with the police crack down including the employees from the Faeda, Arbapelli and Sepo tanneries. One source told Leather International that the total evasion could be worth €240 million and is connected to VAT avoidance. Wet-blue imported into Italy from Brazil is also implicated. However, this has not been substantiated.
It is believed that the latest arrests form part of the third police wave of investigations in the Arzignano tanning zone. According to reports in the local newspaper the Il Giornale Di Vicenza it described the arrests as part of the 'dirty leather' investigation following what it called 'il blitz' as the police clamp down of tax avoidance in the tanning region. More to follow.
