Judge expands money-laundering investigation into fuel-fraud case linked to Aldama
Magistrate Santiago Pedraz issues European investigation orders to Portugal and Ireland to track accounts containing proceeds from Villafuel tax fraud.
Pedraz orders Portugal and Ireland to provide key banking information in Aldama case
Judge Santiago Pedraz, head of Central Court of Instruction No. 6 of the National Court, has expanded the investigation into laundered money obtained through the multi-million-euro fuel-fraud scheme in which Víctor de Aldama is named as a suspect, according to larazon.es.
In an order issued this Monday, Pedraz issues European investigation orders (EIOs) directed to the authorities of Portugal and Ireland with the aim of obtaining information on bank accounts that would have received "funds of criminal origin" derived from fuel VAT tax evasion channelled around Villafuel. The tax fraud against the Spanish Tax Agency exceeds 180 million euros.
With regard to Portugal, the magistrate requests "information relating to the newly identified bank accounts" in the latest developments in the case. The order states that "various money-laundering operations have been identified associated with concealment and its transformation, remitting the defrauded amounts to the public treasury to accounts held in third parties, one of them being Portugal".
As for Ireland, Pedraz agrees to issue an order to obtain the details of transactions executed by an intermediary cryptocurrency company called "Kraken". This company would have received 213,000 euros from deposits in Portuguese territory through a total of 13 bank transfers.
The judge justifies the expansion by noting that the financial data received so far is "insufficient, as the bank transfers of all accounts held by the investigated companies have not been provided or have been provided in formats that hamper subsequent analysis".
"The lack of banking information prevents the determination of the specific destination of all the funds transferred to Portugal", the order states, adding that for this reason "the issue of a new EIO, or expansion of those already issued" is requested.
Source: Google News CL — Santiago